Long-running, class action-style litigation brought against big drug companies by parents who claim that their children were injured by the triple-jab vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, appears on the point of collapse.

The High Court judge overseeing the case said yesterday that he would be recommending that the "group litigation" status given to the claims should be ended, because of the small number of claimants who now had the public funding necessary to pursue their cases.