Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on the prescribing of Lariam to armed forces personnel of the potential side effects from using that drug.

Anti-malaria drugs, including mefloquine (brand names include Lariam), are only prescribed after a face-to-face individual risk assessment. The recommended anti-malaria drug is determined by the sensitivity of malaria parasites to those drugs in different parts of the world based on Public Health England guidance. Mefloquine is only prescribed by a doctor and after other alternatives have been identified as unsuitable and is not prescribed to divers, aircrew, or air traffic controllers.

All anti-malarial drugs have a side effect profile and the full spectrum of side effects for all anti-malarial drugs, including mefloquine, can be found in the British National Formulary (BNF) online here: https://bnf.nice.org.uk or the Electronic Medicines Compendium here: https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc

Personnel supplied with anti-malarial drugs are issued copies of all manufacturer-provided patient documentation relevant to that drug and are informed of all special warnings or precautions to anti-malarial drugs.

All suspected side effects to anti-malarial drugs are recorded on the Defence Medical Information Capability Programme (DMICP) using the Anti-malarial Side Effects Template and reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, using the ‘yellow card’ system.