§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what information he has as to on how many occasions since 1979 withdrawals of drugs or medically related devices in the United States of America have been followed by immediate withdrawal in Britain, and vice versa; and on how many occasions and for which products there has been a delay;
(2) if he will list the names and number of drugs and medically related devices that have had approval withdrawn since 1979; and if he will give for each, information available to him on the period of time for which they were on such list in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) the United States of America.
§ Mr. NewtonThe licensing authority does not routinely hold information about marketing status in the United States of America, though some specific information will be available on particular licence files. A complete search through all such files would involve disproportionate cost. In the United Kingdom 105 medicinal products have had their licences withdrawn, that is suspended or revoked, since 1 January 1979. A list of these products will be placed in the Library shortly. In addition, for a variety of reasons, 15,645 product licences have been surrendered by companies or have lapsed since that date. These include cases where licences were surrendered voluntarily after concern about safety. Licence holders are not required to 169W give a reason for surrendering or failing to renew a licence. A list of products where safety was identified by the licence holder as a reason for product withdrawal could be produced only at disproportionate cost.