The Safety of Medicines Bill 2010-2012 was launched by a cross-party group of MPs to tackle the escalating problem of adverse drug reactions by requiring an unprecedented scientific comparison of testing methods. Senior Conservative MP David Amess presented the Bill on 20th July with a ten minute speech to the House of Commons, which can be viewed here (fast forward 1 hour and 42 minutes) and read here. See some of the press coverage in Southend Standard and on ePolitix.com.
Bob Russell MP (Liberal Democrat), David Amess MP (Conservative), Dr Caroline Lucas MP (Green), Paul Flynn MP (Labour), Mike Hancock CBE MP (Liberal Democrat) and Dr Julian Huppert MP (Liberal Democrat) also tabled Early Day Motion 475 in support of the Bill.
Dr Julian Huppert MP (Liberal Democrat), Peter Bottomley MP (Conservative), Mike Hancock MP (Liberal Democrat), Paul Flynn MP (Labour), Kelvin Hopkins MP (Labour) and Mark Durkan MP (Social Democratic and Labour Party) have tabled the closely related EDM 380: Availability of human tissue for medical research, calling on the Government to increase the accessibility of surplus human tissue samples for medical research.
The time to evaluate animal tests has surely come. With adverse drug reactions increasing and the output of new medicines decreasing, while their costs spiral ever upwards, it has never been more important to assess the methods used to test drug safety.
