News / Military

‘UK soldiers to sue defense ministry over anti-Malaria drug’

Monday, 07 September 2015 11:05 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 07 September 2015 11:07 AM ]

File photo of British troops

A fresh report says British veterans are set to launch legal action against the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) over the use of a controversial anti-malaria drug on them.

According to the British daily, the Express, soldiers who say their lives have been shattered by anti-malaria drug Lariam are preparing to sue the MoD.

It said that “thousands” of veterans could eventually join the civil action.

The report follows the release of an extraordinary statement by the MoD saying that it has only been carrying out medical screening of soldiers since 2013.

The statement, released last month, also declares that Lariam is not the Ministry of Defense’s “first choice of anti-malarial” though, as reported by the Sunday Express last week, this claim was later overturned by the MoD and the statement branded “misleading”.

Last week, the paper reported how Plymouth MP and former army officer Johnny Mercer was misled in a top-level meeting with armed forces minster Penny Mordaunt and Surgeon General Air Marshal Paul Evans into believing the MoD had changed its policy on Lariam use.

“I thought it was fantastic, but clearly nothing has changed at all," said Mercer, who has been contacted by more than 40 concerned veterans.

He confirmed that Commons defense select committee, of which he is a member, will be mounting a formal inquiry into Lariam later this year.

Lariam was developed by the US army in the 1970s, yet it was not until 1996 that the UK Committee on Safety of Medicines advised doctors to warn patients about the neuropsychiatric risks of taking the drug, according to the Guardian.

By 2014, the European Medicines Agency had warned of the “predominance of neuropsychiatric adverse reactions.”

The UK Ministry of Defense, however, said the use of Lariam was based on expert advice and pointed out that it was widely used by both civilians and the military.

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