A Request to the MHRA

One a request to get together to discuss matters, the other a request under the FOI.

Here is the email I have just sent them.



----- Original Message -----
From: fiddaman
To: MHRA Information Centre
Cc: Charles Medawar ; David Healy ; Shelley Jofre; Janice Simmons ; Matthew Holford ; Derek D Scott ; Kent Woods

Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 3:24 PM
Subject: MHRA warns the public to be vigilant - FOI Request

Dear Sirs,

I have copied in your CEO on this email, seeing as he refuses to even have the decency to acknowledge any emails I send him anymore.

I think it's high time the MHRA and anti Seroxat/SSRi campaigners got together to discuss the issue we have raised over the years don't you?

This emailing back and forth really is schoolyard stuff.

You have to admit you have been less than transparent with the campaigners and it seems no matter what evidence we supply in regard to the safety and efficacy of SSRi's in the adult population, you refuse to accept that anything is wrong.

Did you, as the Medicines Regulator not foresee any possible problems with Paroxetine?

Up to March 1997 you recieved 802 Yellow Card withdrawal Reactions relating to Paroxetine (see attached) and 9 reports of dependence. Paroxetine was introduced in 1991 and compared to Temazepam, Diazepam and Fluoxetine, which were all introduced much earlier, Paroxetine showed a far greater number of reports via your Yellow Card system. Did this not start alarm bells ringing?

Myself and others are finding it increasingly difficult to understand why the MHRA are refusing to budge on their stance that Seroxat in particular is safe for adults.

Janice Simmons runs the Seroxat & SSRi User Group. She tells me she has recieved over 15,000 emails, only two of which have anything good to say about Seroxat and other SSRi's. That is quite a significant statistic wouldn't you agree gentlemen?

You are supposed to be protecting the public and working with them and for them not against them.

The reasons why you are publically lambasted by myself and others is because we see that you are failing as a regulator. We see a conflict of interest and we see stubborness, particularly from your CEO, Kent Woods.

I want you to meet with us to discuss a possible way forward.

It takes up to 20 working days to answer a FOI request, 20 working days where patients are taking medication that is blindingly obvious is doing them harm.

My first request therefore is to set up a meeting with the CEO, Kent Woods. We want him to listen to what we have to say. We want to tell him where we think the MHRA are failing us... by us I mean the British public.

So, request number 1.

We request a meeting with your CEO, Kent Woods. Can you arrange this?

My second request is one I make under the Freedom of Information Act. It does not concern Seroxat or any other SSRi.

The request contains three questions.

I would like to draw to your attention your own website, in particular the following page: - http://www.mhra.gov.uk/NewsCentre/Pressreleases/CON014134

The subject matter is 'Dangerous practices in the unlicensed herbals sector'.

I read it with great interest particulary the case studies.

The following request is of particular interest and I'm sure you don't have to be Albert Einstein to figure out where I'm coming from with this request.

Case Study Number One on your page reads: "Two suspected adverse drug reactions reports have been received in association with in a multi-constituent Ayurvedic remedy, the product DBCare contained ingredients such as Trigonella foenum-graecum, Tinospora cordifolia, Syzygium aromaticum, Phyllanthus emblica."

My first question under the FOI is thus:

1. Were there only two suspected adverse drug reactions reported regarding the product DBCare?

Case Study Number Two on your webpage reads: "A man collapsed after consuming a product called Tian Li, which claimed to give sexual enhancement. He was also taking Viagra on prescription."

My second question under the FOI is thus:

2. Was this the only reported incident of an 'adverse reaction' regarding the product Tian Li?

Case Study Number Three on your webpage reads: "A woman who purchased a slimming product called Li Da Dai. She used this product for three days and felt a bit weak and vomited"

My Third Question under the FOI is thus:

3. Was this the only reported instance of an adverse reaction regarding the product Li Da Dai?

-----

As I mentioned at the top of this email, your CEO, Kent Woods has been copied in on this email, it is entirely up to him if he wishes to personally respond. I have also taken the liberty of copying in some familiar names for you and ask you to take the request of a meeting very seriously.

A copy of this email will be published on the Seroxat Sufferers Blog

Yours sincerely

Robert Fiddaman

Seroxat Sufferers
http://fiddaman.blogspot.com

Read the new book, The Evidence, However, Is Clear...The Seroxat Scandal

By Bob Fiddaman

ISBN: 978-1-84991-120-7
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