Professor Howard Thomas

Appreciate focus on AHO’s but please can we ask him about this page from “Unresolved Problems in Haemophilia” Glasgow 1980 given the importance and power of his statement? “It will be an enormous problem when it happens” - what did he mean by this?

• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GWarCgcVnJNKGAdEq4u6H9laO685X8wt/view?usp=sharing

• How does this view sit with para 15 of his statement?

  WS Questions

• Para 24(d) He says “Once patients had elevated ALT this was no longer so important" - Was thought given to the potential of and impact of increasing viral load?

• In relation to Para 77 - Does he recall discussion ever taking place about how many (in total) persons, it was thought, were likely to come forward to make a claim for Skipton lump sums?

• Related to Para 112 - How might probability of infection risk be influenced in the case of MSM (Men who have sex with men)? Was this something that was asked or taken into account?

• Also on Para 112 - To what extent was Hepatitis C reactivation in patients who had received Cancer treatment taken into account?

• Para 125 - He says “"all haemophilia patients who had received Factor 8 concentrates were assumed to qualify" - Would this apply to Factor IX concentrate recipients as well?

• Para 153 - He says “"I thought it was unfair that depenants did not receive support after a patient had died"... "this was subsequently implemented" - In the case of those who lost parents (no widow) this is not true. What is his understanding of what on-going support was in place for those who lost parents? (There was and is none)

• Extra questions added 22/03/21

• On Page 3 of this document, it’s said he’s been working on a test to detect Non-A, Non-B virus - Can he shed light on this?

  • It is said he was using sera from haemophiliacs to try and develop this test, did he have consent from the haemophiliacs in question to use their sera for that purpose?

    • Why was he using haemophiliacs sera for this purpose?

    • What were haemophiliacs told about why their sera should be used for this purpose?

  • What resource was given for his work in this area? From where? Was the level of resource appropriate?

• In relation to Para 4.4 of this document. It is said (in relation to those infected with Hepatitis C by Blood Transfusion) that: "50% die within one to two years after receiving blood” and that “Professor Thomas agreed”.

  • Can he confirm this was his understanding?

  • Presumably that would be from causes unrelated to Hepatitis C?

• In relation to these pages form “Unresolved problems in Haemophilia” (Jenni has a copy)

  • Firstly, on Page 47, he is saying here that hep c was “presumed to be caused by a virus”  and that "it would be wrong to assume that this other form of virus-induced liver disease will behave in the same way” as Hepatitis B. Can he confirm this was his understanding as at 1980?

  • On Page 48 he says “one would predict that they would get fibrotic liver disease and the complications that go along with that”. He also says on Page 49, speaking about hep c in haemophiliacs that “The prediction is that it will be a more significant progressive illness, and I think they will develop fibrosis” - Is it his understanding that his prediction was correct?

  • On Page 48 he says “one can predict that there will be problems in the future” - What did he mean by this?