Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to thank Dr. Douglas and Dr. Suter for joining us today and providing their testimony.
I want to begin by reading from the 2014 report by the European Medicines Agency. It stated, “There is enough evidence from the presented drug safety reports, the submitted literature report and the FDA assessment report supporting a causal relationship between mefloquine and the occurrence of long lasting and even persistent neuropsychiatric side effects.” Certainly, both of our witnesses provided much testimony today.
Within our Canadian Armed Forces, currently, mefloquine is used for less than 5% of malaria prevention prescriptions. From my understanding, since June 2017, it is only prescribed to members of the Canadian Armed Forces when it is specifically requested, or when other options are deemed a contraindication. What is your thinking, what is your assessment of how the armed forces is currently prescribing this drug?