§ Lord Lucasasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether it would be a reasonable precaution against developments in the nvCJD outbreak for the Government to establish which injectible medical products in current use in the United Kingdom use bovine or ovine material in their preparation. [HL3426]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathThe Medicines Control Agency (MCA) is undertaking an exercise that requires all marketing authorisation holders of medicinal products licensed for use in the United Kingdom to supply information on use of animal material in the manufacture of medicinal products. A comprehensive database of the information received will be established once the exercise is complete in March 2001. This will enable the MCA specifically to confirm that all medicinal products on the UK market that use such material comply with new European legislation. This legislation requires all new applications for a marketing authorisation made after 1st July 2000 to demonstrate that they comply with European guidelines on minimising the risk of transmission of spongiform encephalopathies via medicinal products. Marketing authorisation holders of existing medicinal products must produce evidence of compliance with the guidelines by 1st March 2001.