HC Deb 23 February 1984 vol 54 cc635-6W
Mr. Ashley

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services, pursuant to his reply of 13 December 1983, Official Report, column 443–4, whether the 442 and 131 reports to the Committee on Safety of Medicines of deaths associated with products containing phenylbutazone and oxyphenbutazone, respectively, included any of the 1,182 deaths associated with both drugs that were referred to in Ciba-Geigy's own internal assessment of the drugs dated September 1982.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke

[pursuant to his reply, 15 February 1984, c. 236]: Yes. We understand that CibaGeigy's assessment of deaths in all countries attributed to its products containing phenylbutazone and oxyphenbutazone includes reports of deaths reported to the company by United Kingdom doctors which in turn were passed on to the Committee on Safety of Medicines. These reports were included in the totals referred to in my reply of 13 December at column 443–4.