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SUMMARY:The Penumbra of Thalidomide - Prof  Peter Lachmann\, Past Presiden
 t Academy of Medical Sciences
DTSTART:20111118T173000Z
DTEND:20111118T183000Z
UID:TALK34695@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Peter Lachmann
DESCRIPTION:The Penumbra of Thalidomide\n\nIt is some fifty years since th
 e thalidomide disaster when several thousand children around the world wer
 e born with severe limb defects after their mothers had been given thalido
 mide as sedative and remedy for morning sickness. Drugs at that time were 
 not required to have been tested for potential effects on the fetus. \n\nO
 ne consequence of this tragedy was a great enhancement of the processes fo
 r licensing  new medicines in an attempt to assuage public anxiety that th
 ere could ever be another similar disaster\; and that there was any risk a
 t all involved in taking a licensed medicine. Where\, nevertheless\, signi
 ficant side effects were found it became the practice to sue for damages.\
 n\nIn this lecture a case will be argued that these consequences have give
 n rise to possibly an even greater disaster damaging a much larger number 
 of people and threatening ruin to health services everywhere.\n\nThe huge 
 increase in both the time taken and the cost involved in bringing a new me
 dicine to market is increasing the price of many new medicines to unsuppor
 table levels. It has also lead to the situation where only companies with 
 deep pockets are able to take medicines to market\; and even they will do 
 so only for diseases common enough that they can envisage making a profit.
   The licensing of new medicines therefore requires urgent and wide-rangin
 g reform which will need changes to both national and European legislation
 . \n\nThe increasingly wide spread litigation culture for “statistical
 ” harmful effects that involve neither negligence nor other malfeasance 
 also needs to be addressed. The damages incurred lead to a further increas
 e in the price of medicines.\n\nReforms to reduce the cost of medicines wo
 uld save the NHS far more than the structural changes now before Parliamen
 t. But it will no easier to bring them about.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
LOCATION:Faculty of Law Room LG17
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