Lamotrigine safety

1 October 2019

[name and contact details redacted]

Dear [name redacted],

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to Lamotrigine.

You asked for “copies of all documents relating to safety issues for patients in switching between brands of lamotrigine, received or generated since 1 July 2018”. These documents are enclosed. [PDF, 4.1 MB]

We have redacted some information from the documents as we consider this is necessary to:

• protect the privacy of natural persons (section 9(2)(a));
• protect information where the making available of the information would be likely to unreasonably prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied or who is the subject of the information (section 9(2)(b)(ii));
• maintain legal professional privilege (section 9(2)(h)); and
• enable PHARMAC to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations, including commercial negotiations (section 9(2)(j)).

As required under the OIA we also considered whether, in the circumstances, the withholding of this information was outweighed by other considerations which render it desirable, in the public interest, to make this information available. In this case we did not consider that the public interest outweighed the reasons for withholding the information

You have the right, by way of complaint under section28(3) of the OIA to an Ombudsman, to seek an investigation and review of our decision.

We trust that this information answers your queries. We are making our information more freely available, so we will now publish selected OIA responses (excluding personal details) on our website. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about this.

Yours sincerely

Alison Hill
Director, Engagement and Implementation