§ Mr. WellsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information he has on the general availability of a gel-filled form of tablets and on their producers.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyI assume that the hon. Member is referring to temazepam gel-filled capsules, which are marketed by several different pharmaceutical companies. Temazepam is also available in tablet form. As medicines, all marketed forms of temazepam require licences under the Medicines Act 1968. Manufacturers of temazepam capsules and tablets have provided sufficient information to the Medicines Control Agency to satisfy the provisions of the Act.
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§ Mr. WellsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what were the reasons behind the Advisory Committee on National Health Service Drugs refusal to allow any increase in price to recover the costs incurred in the development of Temazepam gel-filled capsules for the prevention of drug abuse; and why they have proposed that the benefit of brand-name prescribing should not be available to their originator;
(2) what is his policy on financial recognition of the cost of research and development by the pharmaceutical industry of products in categories covered by the limited list.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyOne of the principles underlying the operation of the selected list scheme since its introduction in 1985 has been that, in order to achieve maximum economy, the drugs retained for NHS prescription should where possible be specified and prescribed by a non-proprietary name. The recent recommendation of the Advisory Committee on NHS Drugs that temazepam capsules should not be prescribable by the relatively new proprietary name Gelthix, but only by the non-proprietary name, is in accordance with this principle.