§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will commission a multi-centre trial to assess the effect of a once-daily Epilim Chrono regimen in epileptic patients established on a twice-daily enteric-coated tablet regimen; and if he will make a statement. [39212]
508W
§ Mr. MaloneThe Department of Health, and the Medical Research Council, which is the main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research, normally commission studies which compare the effectiveness of a broad range of possible treatments and interventions. The Department and the MRC are, however, always willing to consider soundly based scientific proposals in competition with other applications.
The Department's health technology assessment programme intends to call for proposals for research comparing the effectiveness of new anti-epileptic drugs and existing therapies.