An investigation into the use by the military of an anti-malarial drug that has been linked to mental health problems was announced by a committee of MPs yesterday.
The defence select committee said it would hear evidence on Lariam, also known as mefloquine.
The announcement came as the MPs published a letter from Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, who was responding to concerns flagged by the committee. He said the use of Lariam was under review but that the drug comprised only 1.2 per cent of the Ministry of Defence’s antimalarial stocks.
“Since 2004-05, defence policy has required mefloquine to be prescribed to service personnel with the accompanying risk assessment,” he wrote. “The health and well-being of our people is paramount in this and all matters.”
The MoD said that 11 people — 2.5 per cent of the total — who received the drug during operations in southern Afghanistan between 2007 and 2014 experienced side effects. It did not dispute that Lariam had side-effects but said this was the case with every drug that had a clinical effects, adding that “singling out mefloquine for scrutiny is a flawed logic”.