§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what guidelines have been produced by her Department for leprologists concerning advising patients about the neuropathic side-effects of thalidomide;
(2) how many leprosy patients in the United Kingdom treated with thalidomide have complained of symptoms described by Fullerton and O'Sullivan in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 1968; 31; 543, table 1 in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. SackvilleI refer the hon. Member to the reply my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave the then hon. Member for Stoke on Trent, South (Mr. Ashley) on 3 March 1992 at column157.
A Department of Health memorandum on leprosy recommends that a member of the panel of leprosy opinion is invited to see and discuss the management of all new cases of leprosy. It is the doctors' responsibility to discuss the benefits and possible adverse reactions of any treatment with their patients.
No leprosy patient treated with thalidomide in the last three years is known to have complained of the symptoms described.
§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what research has been undertaken by her Department in the use of electrophysiological tests in leprosy patients to exclude the use of thalidomide neuropathy as part of the treatment.
§ Mr. SackvilleNone.
The main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council (MRC) which receives its grant-in-aid from the Office of Science and Technology under the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. This is an independent body deciding what research to support on its own expert judgment. The council is always willing to consider for support soundly based new scientific proposals in competition with other applications.