Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons his Ministers declined to meet with members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on hormone pregnancy tests to discuss the scientific review set up to consider the effects of the drug primodos on pregnant women.

In November 2017 the Expert Working Group established by the Commission on Human Medicines to review hormone pregnancy tests concluded that the available evidence did not support a causal association with adverse pregnancy outcomes. At that time the Government made a commitment to evaluate carefully any new evidence. In February 2018 the Government asked Baroness Cumberlege to undertake a review into patients’ concerns and how these were responded to, and to advise what further action may be required.

Since then, a new ad hoc Expert Group of the Commission on Human Medicines has been convened to consider the recent meta-analysis published by Heneghan et al. of clinical studies. An independent review of this publication is also being conducted in parallel by the European Medicines Agency via a formal referral under European Union legal provisions. Both of these scientific reviews are ongoing and the conclusions will be made public when complete, likely in May.

While the review by Baroness Cumberlege into what further action may be required in the case of hormone pregnancy tests is ongoing, and pending the findings of the scientific reviews of Heneghan et al., the Government considers that it would be premature to have a further meeting with the All Party Parliamentary Group.