23 March 2022: Presentation (Production in Scotland/Northern Ireland) - B

Into the 80s and the ongoing Watt-Cash ego flexing; plus the newer kid on the block gaining prominence, one C A Ludlum.

The safety margin for ensuring uninterrupted availability of factor was to aim for a stockpile of a year's worth of material. I can see the timing being unhelpful if a big stock of an expensive product might become suspect due to concerns about new viruses. There is also the reliance on large freezer storage capacity, including avoiding the possibility of power failures. Then there was the bizarre matter of the wrong size of bottles to fit in the refrigeration cabinets.

Reality hit when a large chunk of stockpiled product was lost in strange circumstances. This and other issues resulted in the supply being described as being in a "perilous state". Prof Ludlum justified greater use of commercial product as a consequence of the required alterations to the PFC after the Medicines Inspectorate report. Oh, the irony; in an effort to get to safer(?) self-sufficiency, it required relying on a less safe(?) commercial stop-gap, ... or was it?

Ludlum had an ongoing deal with Mayne in Belfast to keep sending over their stuff, yet Prof Cash had to write to Dear Christopher to get him to explain the arrangement. A left-hand/right-hand not understanding issue. And they wonder why we are suspicious.

Way-hay, Scotland was the first country in the world to become self-sufficient in home-grown factor product. What a contrast to the previously perilous times. Trouble is, we quickly became so good at producing the stuff, lots of it was in danger of going out of date. The accountants wouldn't like that one bit. Then there was the regressive inconvenience of maybe having to keep cryo on tap because of a new virus threat. It was the first half of the 1980s, so what could that virus be?

The charts for cryo/PFC-FVIII/Commercial-FVIII are illuminating. There is a noticeable blip for 1981 because Edinburgh figures were not available for some reason. Coincidentally (perhaps) Ludlum's arrival and his greater emphasis on avoiding cryo is discernible from the charts.

The starkly heavy use in Northern Ireland of commercial product must be highlighted. Their victimhood was enhanced by the pro-rata distribution system, and it took our NI cousins a while to get up to speed. In the meantime, for them commercial was king.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

26 July 2023: Sunak - A

And in walked the Prime Minister (PM), at exactly 2pm. One minute later the Chair enters. Sir Brian said a few words of thanks for the special circumstances related to access people had to endure due to the additional security arrangements. The PM gave the oath following his own religious affiliation. Counsel contextually reviewed how the witness had stated that his knowledge and involvement relied on other Ministers, however he had received more recent briefings in preparation for the appearance today. The first questions went straight to the communications from Penny Mordaunt when she was Paymaster General (PG). These highlighted in strong terms the need for action at the time and not to delay. Before answering, the witness wanted to say how he recognised this was, “An appalling scandal … people have suffered for decades” (and other fine words not backed up with action). In relation to the letters from the PG, he did not see them under the normal situation of a triage to filter the c...
Read more

25 July 2023: Dunn - B

Questions from core participants: Was there an investigation into the newspaper leaks? She was not aware of one, but that would have been taken forward by the Cabinet Office. (Fox and chicken coop comes to mind.) What are the main elements being used to come up with the leaked figures? She was not able to say but would get back to the Inquiry with that information. On psychological support, will the research be made publicly available, and when? She expected it would be and was expected in August. The research was understood to have been commissioned in 2022, but the need was highlighted in 2020. Why did it take so long to get to the point of commissioning the work? She said there was a process of “ongoing dialogue” after which it was decided that what was required was more ongoing dialogue. (That’s not exactly how it was phrased.) The Chair referenced himself as having, on several occasions, expressed the hope that he can recognise how everyone in the UK, including England, was benefi...
Read more

17 November 2022: Panel on finding the undiagnosed - A

Another panel of leading medics were assembled to address the issue of how to find people who are still undiagnosed. There was one from each of the four nations: Professor Graham Foster (England); Professor John Dillon (Scotland); Doctor Brendan Healey (Wales); and Dr Joanne McLean (Northern Ireland). As usual, for each witness there was a brief review of their respective roles and responsibilities. The situation in England started with a description of the HCV elimination initiative and its arrangement involving the pharmaceutical companies which was lauded by the English witness but seemed curious. For their cooperation, the pharma companies get anonymous, headline data on patients. There is a three phase elimination programme in England. Phase 1 is about oral therapies. Phase 2 is about risk groups. It involves an incentivised process to encourage the identification by re-engagement with patients who had had a positive test but had not been treated. It involved about 50,000 people. ...
Read more