Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the covid-19 diagnostic antibody tests being (a) evaluated and (b) supported by the Government contain animal-derived antibodies.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Government is backing efforts to develop a homegrown antibody test. A business consortium, UK Rapid Test Consortium (UK-RTC), including Oxford University, Abingdon Health, BBI Solutions and CIGA Healthcare has launched, in order to design and develop a new antibody test to determine whether people have had the virus. The development of this test will not involve testing on animals.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what drugs were used to treat people exposed to Novichock in Wiltshire in 2019; and what testing those drugs were subject to.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Only medicines licensed for use either as recognised treatments for organophosphate poisoning, or ordinarily used for supportive care in normal resuscitative and intensive care practice were used to treat those symptomatic people recognised as having been exposed to Novichok nerve agent.
For all licensed medicines, robust scientific data is required to demonstrate that the products meet acceptable standards of safety, quality and efficacy before they are placed on the market.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down is evaluating antibody tests for covid-19; whether those tests contain antibodies derived from animals; and what steps his Department is taking to use non-animal alternatives to antibody production.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is part of the Ministry of Defence. The Dstl is evaluating commercial antibody test kits from around the world, in support of the Department of Health and Social Care.
Evaluation of tests and their contents is ongoing.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to minimise the use of animals in the creation of diagnostic antibody tests for covid-19.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Government is backing efforts to develop a homegrown antibody test. A business consortium, UK Rapid Test Consortium (UK-RTC), including Oxford University, Abingdon Health, BBI Solutions and CIGA Healthcare has launched, in order to design and develop a new antibody test to determine whether people have had the virus. The development of this test will not involve testing on animals.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which species of animals are being used in the creation of tests for covid-19; and for what reasons.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Government is backing efforts to develop a homegrown antibody test. A business consortium, UK Rapid Test Consortium (UK-RTC), including Oxford University, Abingdon Health, BBI Solutions and CIGA Healthcare has launched, in order to design and develop a new antibody test to determine whether people have had the virus. The development of this test will not involve testing on animals.