From: Written Parliamentary Questions and Answers <[email protected]>
Sent: 21 April 2020 13:13
To: ALTON OF LIVERPOOL, Lord <[email protected]>
Subject: Written answer to your QWA HL2602 received from Lord Bethell, the Department of Health and Social Care
Lord Bethell, the Department of Health and Social Care, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL2602):
Question from Lord Alton of Liverpool:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with (1) the National Cancer Institute Pascale Foundation, and (2) the Colli Hospital, in Italy about the results those institutions saw from using Tocilizumab to treat patients with severe pneumonia linked to COVID-19. (HL2602)
Tabled on: 16 March 2020
Answer:
Lord Bethell:
The Department has not been in direct contact with the National Cancer Institute Pascale Foundation or the Colli Hospital in Italy regarding the experimental use of tocilizumab. However, the United Kingdom Therapeutics Task Force has independently assessed tocilizumab as having potential, and it is expected to begin evaluation in the UK imminently as part of the RECOVERY and REMAP-CAP studies. UK patients will be able to access tocilizumab as part of this trial. The Department will continue to monitor the results of trials of experimental therapies for COVID-19 from around the world.
Date and time of answer: 21 Apr 2020 at 13:12.
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The Government repeatedly says it is “fallowing the science” – but why some science and not other science?
It needs to spell out what reservations about Italian scientists and doctors have led to them failing to assess the outcomes from using Tocilizumab to treat patients with severe pneumonia linked to COVID-19; how that are monitoring “ the results of trials of experimental therapies for COVID-19 from around the world” if they are not in touch with the National Cancer Institute Pascale Foundation, and the Colli Hospital, in Italy; how long it will be before the United Kingdom Therapeutics Task Force are likely to report?
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The Government also needs to spell out what it means when it suggest, in relation to the Coronavirus, “let it run hot” and to publish the science which has led them to use this phrase.
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And let them tell us how many of the 100,000 Covid 19 tests targeted to take place each day by the end of April are currently taking place; what number of daily tests would need to occur before an end to lock down may be safely considered; and what measures they are putting in place to further increase capacity and training of those capable of undertaking and evaluating the tests.
