The companies behind controversial puberty blockers at the centre of a landmark transgender ruling have seen their share prices dip.
The firms, AbbVie Inc and Takeda, saw the value of their shares fall in the aftermath of the Kiera Bell case.
Ten grounds for appeal put forward by those who lost the case, the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, were also all refused.
Permission to appeal the ruling will now have to be made directly to the Court of Appeal itself. As the High Court has already said no to an appeal, and there are no procedural irregularities, it seems unlikely that the ruling will be changed.
Keira Bell, a woman in her 20s, had been prescribed puberty blockers as a late-teenaged girl. She then went on to take cross -sex hormones, and have her healthy breasts removed. She argued in the case that not only did she not get adequate counselling – just three hours before being given the prescription for the poorly-researched treatment (and now seen to be mostly non-reversible) – but that she was incapable of giving consent to the process itself.
The ruling upheld ‘Gillick competence’– a legal term used in medical law to decide whether a child under 16 years of age is able to consent to their own medical treatment, without the need for parental permission or knowledge. It was ‘highly unlikely’ that a child under 16 would be able to give informed consent to the medication, the ruling said. Even those aged 16 and 17 are likely to need to go to court to be prescribed puberty blockers, it added
Off label
The side effects of the drugs have been well known for a number of years. Bone thinning and chronic pain have been associated with use of Lupron. Developed to deal with prostate cancer, but used off label for treating ‘trans children’, research is almost non-existent for Lupron’s use in stopping puberty in young children. Those who campaign against both the use of blockers and the affirmative approach to children experiencing body dysmorphia in relation to their sex, welcomed the ruling as most children who present with ‘gender identity’ issues usually embrace their natal sex by the end of puberty. Few persist past young adulthood and the reality of detransitioners, such as Keira Bell, show that ‘gender identity’ is not immutable.
Although the implementation of the ruling has been held until 22 December, the NHS amended its rules for prescribing puberty blockers on the same day as the ruling.
