§ Mr. Michael McNair-WilsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services when he expects (EPO) to be made available to dialysis patients suffering from acute anaemia.
§ Mr. NewtonThe licensing authority has recently received an application to market a medicinal product containing rDNA erythropoietin (EPO), a product developed by a biotechnological process. Similar applications have also been received by other member states of the European Community. Under the procedure introduced by directive 87/22/EEC for the purpose of increasing the harmonisation of licensing decisions in the Community for "high technology" medicinal products, one member state has requested an opinion on EPO from the Community's Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products. This opinion must be taken into account before a national licensing decision can be made. I am unable to comment on the likely outcome of this application or to predict when EPO will become generally available in the United Kingdom. It is currently being used on a limited scale to treat patients who are participating in clinical 581W trials of the substance and can be used by registered medical practitioners for individuals on a "named patient basis"