§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will consider the relative benefits of sealed, individual packing for glyceryl trinitrate as compared with loose packaged bottles; how the life of this type of packaging of these tablets compares with the loosely packaged bottle tablets; if he will publish an assessment of the relative advantages and disadvantages of both methods of packaging; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WhitneyStudies have shown that glyceryl trinitrate tablets are likely to lose potency if they are packaged in plastic blister packs or are kept in plastic bottles and come into contact with cotton filling material. The relative suitability of different forms of packing for this medicine has been considered by the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and the society has recommended to dispensing pharmacists the use of glass bottles with a150W foil-lined screw-cap and containing no cotton wadding. There are a number of scientific reports on the stability of glyceryl trinitrate. As the hon. Member is particularly interested in the matter, I have arranged to send him a helpful summary of these from Martindale's "The Extra Pharmacopoeia."