§ Mr. Ronald Atkinsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many drugs currently in use in Great Britain 103W have been ruled ineffective by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
§ Dr. OwenIn 1970, the United States Food and Drug Administration published a list of products which it had decided "lack substantial evidence of effectiveness". The products are described by their American proprietary names, and their effectiveness was considered in relation to the claims made for them in the United States of America, so that a direct comparison with British products is not completely straightforward.
At the time the Committee on Safety of Drugs was able to identify 90 products available here which were similar to products on the Food and Drug Administration list. Of these, some 71 are combinations of drugs which were included on the list because of lack of evidence of the usefulness of the particular combination rather than because of doubts about the efficacy of the individual constituents.