Mind: Public Must Be Able To Have Trust In Medicines, Says Mental Health Charity 'Mind', UK

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Also Included In: Depression;  Mental Health;  Bipolar
Article Date: 11 Mar 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Mental health charity Mind responds to the MHRA's ruling on GlaxoSmithKline.

Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, said:

"Mind welcomes news that the Government is to increase drug companies' responsibility to pass on clinical trials information. We look forward to discussions with ministers to ensure that patients' interests are best served. We hope that the legislation will pass quickly through Parliament; this is far too important to be delayed any longer.

"There can be no excuses from the pharmaceutical industry. The public must be able to have trust and confidence in the medicines they are taking. We need to be sure that the tragedies associated with Seroxat can never happen again. The best way to achieve this is for drug companies to publish all clinical trials data, making it available for scrutiny and review, and to inform prescribing decisions.

"The Health Committee's 2005 report on the influence of the pharmaceutical industry made powerful recommendations. We hope that both the Health Committee and the Government will be able to revisit those recommendations soon."

Mind first drew attention to the problems of Seroxat in the 1990s. View our Seroxat timeline.

Further Seroxat background.

Mind is the leading mental health charity in England and Wales. We work to create a better life for everyone with experience of mental distress. Mind values its independence, and accepts no funding or donations from pharmaceutical companies.

http://www.mind.org.uk