THIS magazine鈥檚 comment that 鈥渄rug companies must tell us all they know about the medicines we take鈥� touched a raw nerve (1 May, p 3). It discussed unease about the effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and reported that researchers working for the UK鈥檚 National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), which advises on the safety and efficacy of treatments, had contacted drug companies about unpublished studies on SSRIs. Unforgivably, they were 鈥渕et with a stony silence鈥�.
I asked health minister Norman Warner whether his department shares the concerns about SSRIs and whether regulators should have more powers. He reminded me that the regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), does have powers to request information from pharmaceutical companies. The law places responsibilities on the holders of (drug) marketing authorisations to supply such information to the MHRA. 鈥淎ny failure to comply with those requirements is a very serious matter,鈥� he says, 鈥減otentially a criminal offence carrying both financial and custodial penalties.鈥� There is an ongoing investigation into the actions of one of the companies concerned, on which Warner of course cannot comment.
The Committee on Safety of Medicines has an expert working group reviewing the safety of all SSRIs. 鈥淭his rigorous review,鈥� Warner says, 鈥渉as delivered advice backed up by clinical trial data on the key issues as each stage has been completed. Every effort has been made to ensure that this advice has been clearly communicated and explained to doctors and patients, including by reference to previously unpublished data, supplied to the MHRA at their request.鈥� Its full report will be published later this year.
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I am glad that the government is focusing on reviewing the effects of this entire class of medicines. Companies who hold back information should indeed be punished.
THE Norwegian Polar Institute was concerned about the traces of the various bromodiphenyl ether flame retardants showing up in polar bears and gulls in the Arctic (快猫短视频, 12 June, p 10 and 10 July, p 29).
So I asked Bill Rammell, the Foreign Office minister responsible for global issues, what is being done. He said that a European Union ban on the flame retardants penta-BDE and octa-BDE comes into effect on 15 August.
Deca-BDE is not covered by the ban. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been working with the French, on behalf of the EU, to examine the impact of this substance.
鈥淲e have, however, agreed a voluntary emissions reduction programme with deca users across Europe,鈥� he notes. Rammell expects that this will greatly reduce the levels of deca-BDE entering the environment while more information on the substance is gathered.
But I am suspicious of the effectiveness of voluntary programmes in reducing emissions. It is human nature to think that someone else can do the volunteering!
