25 March 2022: Foster - C

With the significant impact, including deaths, from PFC produced factor concentrates given to infecting bleeding disorder patients, it is perhaps neglectfully surprising to hear that there were never any investigations at least to record the number of people impacted by contaminated products.

Dr Foster described a talk given by Prof Ludlum about which he was clearly unhappy. Foster even wrote to Prof Cash about it. Ludlum had recognised PFC folks were present, and said he had to be careful "to toe the party line". He also described a slide showing SNBTS FVIII as "crud". Ludum also mentioned the product use causing immunological difficulties resulting in higher incidence of inhibitors in patients plus increased susceptibility to HIV. Dr Foster saw this as going against the evidence. Ludlum also described PFC work on heat treatment as a "complete waste of time".

The Scottish Government wanted to stop Dr Foster giving evidence to the Lindsay Inquiry. By then, SNBTS was itself under investigation by the Scottish Government, and this was the justification for not wanting Foster to participate. It took a ministerial phone call from Dublin to Edinburgh to oil the wheels of his giving his evidence.

Reading the rose-tinted description of the celebration of Scotland being the world's first to achieve self-sufficiency in volunteer donated factor products leaves a bad taste in the mouth. In reality, was the race to be first a cause for cutting corners which ultimately compromised product and therefore patient safety?

Returning to the possibility of sharing knowledge between statutory agencies and private pharmaceutical companies, Dr Foster agrees that it would be beneficial, but currently the situation has not really  changed from how things were in the 1970s and 80s.

When PFC was claiming self-sufficiency, England were only at about 30%. Dr Foster thinks the key issue was the supply of plasma. So were the English more stingy with their blood than the Scots, or was Scotland being more permissive about where it obtained its raw material from (eg. prisons, military bases, etc.)

It looks like the end for this witness is in sight. Just the final mop up of questions from core participants to come.

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