§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many of the new drugs given product licences in each of the last five years were new chemical entities.
§ Mr. NewtonThe figures for 1981 are not available in a comparable form. The published figures for the four most recent years are as follows:
Total product licences granted Total product licences containing a new active substance 1982 934 49 1983 783 26 1984 641 9 1985 649 19 Differences between the years in the number of licences containing a new active substance must be treated with caution since the year in which the licence was granted may be dependent on arbitrary factors and since the number of licences may depend on the number of dosage forms needed, and so on.