CRUCIAL DRUG RESEARCH AT GOLDEN JUBILEE CANCELLED

Local MSP Gil Paterson has asked Scotland’s First Minister to demand action from the UK Tory Government after important clinical trials of a new heart drug at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank were stopped.
 
Trials were due to take place on patients in the Golden Jubilee Hospital of a drug called Dutopgliptin, a drug intended to be used in conjunction with other medicines to help repair damaged heart tissue. However, California-based drug research company, Recardio, pulled the plug on the UK trials citing uncertainty due to the UK’s exit from the EU and what it called “completely unresolved” issues around the European Medicines Agency which it says represent “a significant risk” to its business.
 
During First Minister’s Questions at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh last week, Mr Paterson raised the issue of the work undertaken at the Golden Jubilee is of national, if not global significance and he urged Nicola Sturgeon to raise the issue with the UK Government and demand action to allow the ground-breaking research to go ahead at the Clydebank hospital.
 
He also raised concerns that the situation should not reflect on the fantastic reputation for on-going world-leading research earned by the Golden Jubilee Hospital.
 
Speaking to the Clydebank Post, Mr Paterson said:
 
“We are now beginning to see the real impact of the Tory Brexit fiasco.
 
“Heart disease is a major problem in Clydebank and the west of Scotland, thousands of local people as well as those from further afield have already benefitted from the research carried out at the Golden Jubilee, this world –leading heart hospital has saved the lives of thousands of my constituents but this drug has the potential to do even more. This ground-breaking treatment may be able to help the heart repair itself and may have the capacity to be life-changing for many in our constituency and the world over.
 
“It is high time Theresa May stopped her political song and dance routine and faced up to reality, we need a Brexit deal that allows innovative research like this to continue unhampered. We need the Tories to stop their bickering and commit to the Single Market and membership of the Customs Union, that’s the only feasible option to limit the damage of this Tory madness and safeguard our healthcare. Scotland did not vote for Brexit and it’s now starting to have a disastrous effect on our people.