§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will list the benzodiazepine tranquillisers that have been introduced in the last five years; and if he will categorise them into short and long lasting tranquillisers; and if he will give for each the adverse reaction reports per million prescriptions for the first, second and third years of marketing, and for the first and second years combined;
(2) how many reports of adverse reactions possibly associated with the drug Halcion the Committee on Safety of Medicines received during each month of 1982 for which figures are available; and if he will give comparable figures for the corresponding months of 1981;
(3) pursuant to his reply of 27 May, Official Report, c. 390, regarding adverse reactions to tranquillisers, whether he regards the drug Clonazepam as a short acting tranquilliser; and if he will seek to amend the entry for it in the British National Formulary where it is described as an anti-epileptic drug.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeBenzodiazepine tranquillisers introduced since 1977 are as follows. Prescribing figures for individual drugs are confidential for commercial reasons. The figures requested are given in terms of the numbers of adverse reaction reports—where the drug was suspected of having caused the adverse reaction—per million prescriptions, expressed as a comparison with those for triazolam, using the figure for triazolam as the base, given value 1, in each case.
Drug Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Years 1 and 2 combined Clobazom (long-acting) 1.1 1.2 0.6 1.2 Ketazolam (long-acting) 0.7 0.2 — 0.5 Temezepam (short-acting) 0.3 1.0 0.5 0.7 Triazolam (short-acting) 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 Figures for Lormetazepam, short-acting, are not available as it was only recently marketed.
Adverse reaction figures for triazolam, Halcion, on a monthly basis for 1982 are not yet available. I shall let the right hon. Member have these as soon as possible.
I regret that clonazepam was included in error in a previous reply on this subject on 27 May 1982.—[Vol. 24, c. 390–91.] It is one of the benzodiazepine group of drugs, but it is not indicated for use as a tranquilliser as was implied in that reply.