Ms Anne Marie Seymour:

Every licence granted lays out the requirement for the clinician to monitor the patient. That is not information that the Department then collates; it is a doctor and patient relationship. Any adverse reactions to the products will be reported to the HPRA, which gathers all that data. On the clinical benefits seen from taking this product, that information is not gathered by us but that could be looked at in the MCAP scheme as a way of gathering information on the effectiveness of these products. It is not currently being considered to bring those patients in. As has been said multiple times, we would envisage that if Epidiolex becomes available for reimbursement, many of the patients will also leave the ministerial licence scheme. Overall there are the three indications. The vast majority of patients suffer from refractory epilepsy and if Epidiolex is available, they will be gone. Our understanding is that since the MCAP was first set up the clinical needs of patients with MS and severe nausea are largely met by other licensed and non-cannabis based medicines. We do not see a huge demand from patients with those clinical needs coming through either the MCAP or the ministerial licence programme.