Our ref: DE00000461574

 

Dear Mr/Ms Garratt,

 

Thank you for your email of 23 November to the Department of Health requesting, under the Freedom of Information Act, information relating to the cancer drug Triamazon.  You also sent a further email in response to the automatic acknowledgement sent by the Department to your original request.  We are responding to both your emails in this response.

 

The Department of Health does not hold the information you request.  As you are aware, the information you request is held by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory products Agency (MHRA).  The Department has liaised with the MHRA on this matter and the MHRA has provided a general background concerning the licensing requirements for medicinal products below, which may assist with your enquiries.  It may also be helpful if I clarify that as the Department does not hold the information requested, you may wish to direct any further queries on this matter to the MHRA which can be contacted at xxxx@xxxx.xxx.xxx.xx.

 

Generally, medicines are required to be licensed before they are advertised or sold/supplied in the UK .  The form of authorisation will depend on the type of product, the authorisation will say whether or not there are any controls on the way the product is sold or supplied.  There are some exemptions from licensing, the most common one being that for herbal remedies.  However, the exemption is very tightly worded and will end on 30 April 2011 as it is being replaced by a registration system.  More information about this can be found on the herbal medicine pages of the MHRA website www.mhra.gov.uk.

 

Triamazon does not satisfy the exemption from licensing which I referred to because of the way it is marketed, including the claims to treat cancer, nor would it satisfy the requirements to be registered as a traditional herbal medicine.

 

The MHRA is unable to say whether or not Triamazon is safe or whether or not it is capable of achieving the results it claims, as it is not a licensed medicine.  In order to satisfy the requirements for a marketing authorisation, Triamazon would have to show that the required standards of safety, quality and efficacy were met.  As a point of information all medicines licensed in the UK for the treatment of cancer are only available on prescription and may not be advertised to the public. 

 

The MHRA believes that Triamazon is in breach of medicines legislation and the Cancer Act 1939.  Consequently, referrals to the Agency involving the sale and supply of Triamazon will be passed to its Enforcement Group for investigation.

 

As offences under medicines legislation are criminal, accordingly, a criminal investigation is conducted and any resultant prosecution is brought through the criminal courts.  Information held by public authorities which has been obtained as part of a criminal investigation is subject to an exemption under the Freedom of Information Act, namely section 30.  Therefore, information relating to a specific investigation cannot be disclosed and the MHRA is unable to release details of any current cases involving Triamazon.

 

However, once a case comes to court, the information is in the public domain and is freely available.

 

If you have any queries about this response, please contact me.  Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

 

I hope this reply is helpful.  If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review.  Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to:

 

Head of the Freedom of Information Team

Department of Health

Room 317

Richmond House

79 Whitehall

London

SW1A 2NS

  

Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxx.xxx.xx

 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Department.  The ICO can be contacted at:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Deepa Shah

Freedom of Information Team

Department of Health