Depo-Medrone, World In Action And The Upjohn Company, Michigan

EDM number 790 in 1994-95, proposed by Roger Godsiff on 13/03/1995.

That this House welcomes the recent World in Action programme, 'Shot in the Back', broadcast on 6th March 1995, and its investigations into the unlicensed use of epidural steroids in particular Depo-Medrone or Medrol in the treatment of back pain; expresses the gravest concern that the adverse reactions of this drug if administered in non-recommended areas includes arachnoiditis, meningitis and paraplegia; notes that in the 1970's the Upjohn company developed a secondary market for the unlicensed or 'off-label' use of Depo-Medrone for back pain without completing rigorous safety tests and knowingly resisted attempts to warn or 'contraindicate' in Britain until 1990; records the views of the Committee on Safety of Medicines, the Medicines Control Agency and the British Society of Rheumatology, who believe on present evidence the risks of serious side-effects outweigh the benefits; notes also that the National Back Pain Association and the Arachnoiditis Trust recommended the withdrawal of the epidural use of Depo-Medrone until such time as proper research into the possible dangers has been carried out; further records that despite these warnings and ignoring present recommendations of the manufacturer, last year, clinicians in the United Kingdom performed over 30,000 epidural injections for back pain, more than half used Depo-Medrone, and the overwhelming evidence is that patients are not being warned about the dangers, which represents a complete denial of people's rights under the Patient's Charter; and calls on the Secretary of State for Health to halt immediately all unrecommended use of this drug, and as a matter of urgency to set up a formal inquiry into the administration of Depo-Medrone.

This motion has been signed by a total of 42 MPs.