Dear Mr Hamblin
I refer to your FOI request of 28 August 2015 to the Department of Health (as below).
Section 15 of the FOI Act requires that a request for documents meets certain requirements. Your request, in its current form, does not constitute a valid request. Please note that the Act provides for access to documents and not to 'information'. In order for your request to be processed under the provisions of the FOI Act you must provide us with further information to enable us to identify the document or documents you are seeking.
For example, you may wish to consider submitting the following scope:
“All adverse event reports received by the TGA associated with the use of Champix, including where death has occurred.”
Please note that this scope is a sample only. At this early stage, a search and retrieval has not been conducted and the TGA is unable to advise on whether it may be too voluminous to process or if any documents will be returned.
Additionally, it appears that the information you require is publicly available via the Database of Adverse Event Notifications (DAEN) on the TGA website, which provides a list of all adverse event reports that have been notified to the TGA. Please see the following link for your information: https://www.tga.gov.au/database-adverse-event-notifications-daen
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss this further.
Kind regards
Liz
Freedom of Information
Liz Santolin 02 6232 8664
Emily May 02 6232 8792
Karen Bedford 02 6232 8772
Committees, Planning and Stakeholder Support Section
Regulatory Engagement, Education and Planning Branch
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Address:
PO Box 100, Woden ACT, 2606
Email:
[email address]
-----Original Message-----
From: Rod Hamblin [mailto:foi+[email address]]
Sent: Friday, 28 August 2015 1:01 PM
To: FOI
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Adverse effects to taking Champix [SEC=No Protective Marking]
Dear Advisory Committee on Prescription Medicines, I would like to know how many Adverse Effects to CHAMPIX by Pfizer have been reported & how many deaths have occurred due to taking Champix
Yours faithfully,
Rod Hamblin
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
Is [TGA request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to Advisory Committee on Prescription Medicines? If so, please contact us using this form:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/change_request/new?body=advisory_committee_on_prescription_medicines
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/officers
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------