Pregnancy Tests

(asked on 14th November 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what meetings he has had with external experts on hormone pregnancy tests in each of the last 12 months.


Answered by
Steve Brine Portrait
Steve Brine
This question was answered on 22nd November 2017

My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has not met with external experts on Hormone Pregnancy tests in the last 12 months. The Government committed to an independent review of the available evidence relating to Hormone Pregnancy Tests and the possible risk of birth defects in October 2014. The review was carried out by an Expert Working Group of the Commission on Human Medicines, the Government’s independent advisory body on medicines. Careful consideration was given to the membership of the Expert Working Group to make sure the panel was well qualified and of sufficient breadth of exercise to conduct a rigorous scientific review. The Expert Working Group was comprised of a Chair and 15 members who are experts in a wide range of relevant scientific disciplines. The membership of the Expert Working Group included expertise in: pharmacoepidemiology; toxicology; pharmacology; family planning; embryology; neonatal development; reproductive endocrinology; clinical genetics, gynaecology; obstetrics; perinatal epidemiology; paediatric epidemiology; and medical statistics.

The Expert Working Group on Hormone Pregnancy Tests (HPTs) invited seven external experts to present evidence for consideration during its review of the available evidence on a possible association between exposure to HPTs and adverse outcomes of pregnancy.

The report of the Expert Working Group was published on 15 November 2017. Based on this extensive and rigorous review, their overall conclusion was that, based on the totality of the data, the scientific evidence does not support a causal association between the use of HPTs such as Primodos and birth defects or miscarriage.

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