Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of Pramipexole on people living with Parkinson's.

Pramipexole is one of a range of medicines that help manage the symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for ensuring that medicines and healthcare products meet appropriate standards of safety, quality, and effectiveness, and are supported by detailed product information, via the Patient Information Leaflet (PIL) and the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC). Both the PIL and the SmPC are designed to support safe use of the medicine by providing essential information for patients, and more detailed prescribing guidance for healthcare professionals via the SmPC. Any changes to these documents must be reviewed and approved by the MHRA.

The MHRA continuously reviews the safety information for all licensed medicines, including pramipexole, to ensure that warnings and side-effects listed in the product information accurately reflect the available data. No effective medicine is completely free of risk and regulatory decisions on risks and benefits of a medicine are based on data from a number of different sources including the Yellow Card Scheme, scientific literature, pharmaceutical companies, and worldwide regulatory authorities, with regulatory action taken promptly as and when necessary.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for producing useful and usable guidance for the National Health Service and wider health and care system. The NICE guideline NG71 covers diagnosing and managing Parkinson's disease in people aged 18 years old and over. It aims to improve care from the time of diagnosis, including monitoring and managing symptoms, providing information and support, and palliative care. This guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng71/chapter/Recommendations