Hundreds of parents who claim that their children were damaged by the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine have been told that the legal aid funding they were counting on to take their compensation claims to court will be withdrawn from 29 September.
Lawyers estimate that the long running group action on behalf of more than 1000 claimants against three vaccine manufacturers has consumed between £5m ($8m; €7m) and £10m in legal aid so far and could rack up another £4m in costs if it went to trial in the High Court.
A trial was due to start next April, but after a review of expert evidence the Legal Services Commission has decided that the case should not go ahead.
The decision means that the claims will have to be abandoned unless an appeal to a funding committee of independent barristers and solicitors is successful. If the committee, which will hear the appeal on 30 September, decides that funding should continue, its decision is binding on the commission and aid will be reinstated.
The decision to revoke legal aid followed a standard review that was carried out after both sides had exchanged the reports of their expert witnesses. The purpose of the review was to decide whether the chances of success justified public funding to take the case to trial.
A decade ago litigation over the side effects of benzodiazepines cost taxpayers £30m before funding was withdrawn. More recently the failure of the group action over the third generation contraceptive pill is believed to have cost taxpayers about £5m, and the commission's budget is under pressure from the rising number of claims from immigrants seeking asylum.
Parents who blame the MMR vaccine for causing their children brain damage, including autism, are suing the manufacturers Merck, Aventis Pasteur, and GlaxoSmithKline. Alexander Harris, the lead solicitors for the claimants, said in a statement: "We will be making the strongest possible representations to the appeal committee that legal aid should be continued until the MMR vaccine litigation trial."
A survey last April by the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin of studies over the past five years that looked at a possible link between autism and the MMR vaccine reported that the evidence was weak.
Martyn Day, a partner in Leigh, Day & Co, the firm that handled the contraceptive pill cases, said: "It's clear that the Legal Services Commission is enormously worried about these drug cases. Very few have succeeded, and the costs are enormous."
Hundreds of people who claim that they were injured by the side effects of the antidepressant paroxetine (Seroxat) have also been told that they will get no more legal aid to press ahead with compensation claims. An appeal has been lodged, and a final decision is expected before the winter, said their solicitor, Mark Harvey.