MHRA

That this House calls for reform of the weak Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) that is funded by the pharmaceutical industry and repeatedly fails the public interest; is appalled that the 20,000 victims of birth defects arising from the use of sodium valproate (Epilim) have been denied legal aid while American parents have already received compensation; recalls that there were 2,000 victims of Thalidomide in the UK and only 20 in the US; congratulates the US regulator, the Food and Drug Administration that revealed that 60,000 deaths had resulted from the use of the anti-arthritis drug Vioxx while no alarm was registered here because of the MHRA's defective system of reporting drug side-effects; commends the US' massive fine on Glaxo Smith Kline of $3.5 billion for suppressing negative results of drug trials while no action has been taken here for identical misdemeanours; and believes that the UK should be protected by a fully independent regulatory authority liberated from financial dependence on the pharmaceutical industry.