Kirsty Duncan’s July 30th Letter to the Minister of Health
Posted on July 30, 2012

Dear Minister,

On July 5th, 2012, I wrote to you in order to express my profound concerns regarding the way in which your Office has handled my requests for information.

Your Office guaranteed to return a call to me on July 4th regarding a promised technical briefing on Gilenya, Tysabri, and off-label use of stents. Twenty-six days later, I am still waiting for the return call.

Gilenya, an oral multiple sclerosis (MS) drug was approved by Health Canada on March 9th, 2011, but has been under post-market review since February 27th, 2012. As you are no doubt aware, a serious risk has been recognized by other countries with the use of this drug and I have no doubt that Canadian surveillance data have also given rise for concern which has triggered the review. In light of the growing concern, I expect that your office will provide the conclusions of this review process to Canadians who are taking this drug in a timely fashion.

Tysabri was fast-tracked by Health Canada, despite the fact that it was known to cause a fatal brain infection, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). As of July 3rd, 2012, there have been 264 confirmed cases of PML worldwide; 58 of 264 of the patients with PML have died....

read more: https://kirstyduncan.liberal.ca/blog/kirstys-july-30th-letter-to-the-minister-of-health/


Kirsty’s July 30th Letter to the Minister of Health
kirstyduncan.liberal.ca
MP for Etobicoke North