§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied with the use of the drug Depo Provera, despite the difference of opinion about its safety between the Committee on Safety of Medicines and the United States of America Food and Drug Administration.
§ Mr. MoyleOn the advice of the Committee on Safety of Medicines, which has considered the available evidence, 577W Depo Provera is licensed in the United Kingdom for short-term use as an injectable contraceptive in women whose special clinical needs make it a suitable form of contraception and who have recently received rubella vaccination, or whose husbands have undergone vasectomy. Depo Provera is also licensed for clinical use in the treatment of endometriosis. Although the FDA has not accepted its use for contraceptive purposes, it has allowed it to remain on the market for the treatment of uterine cancer. The FDA is aware that risk-benefit judgments of this kind are matters of opinion. The Committee on Safety of Medicines is an independent body of experts in whose judgment I have every confidence, and whose advice in this matter I accept. The Committee was fully aware of the FDA's decision when it tendered its advice.