§ Mr. LuffTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish the results of the survey of key pharmaceutical companies regarding their preference for the siting of the European Medicines Evaluation Agency.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThirty-nine major pharmaceutical companies from within and outside the EC were asked to rate the seven cities which are bidding for the European Medicines Evaluation Agency against 13 different aspects that were considered to be crucial to the success of the agency. Responses to this poll, commissioned from NOP Consumer Market Research, are still being received.
The interim results, based on responses from about half of the companies, reveal that for every aspect the total number of votes cast for the EMEA to be located in London was greater than for any other city. The degree to which London was the preferred location was, throughout, so overwhelming that the total number of votes cast for London exceeded the total of votes cast for all the other cities put together, by a factor of about four to one.
Out of 12 additional factors which the companies themselves suggested were relevant to the siting of the EMEA, London was preferred on 10 of these.
This shows clearly that the international pharmaceutical industry rates London the best place for the EMEA, by an overwhelming margin.