Cantilever House

Eltham Road

Lee

London SE12 8RN

Switchboard 020 7206 3200

Direct line 020 7206 3360

Fax 020 7206 3350

Email: [email address]

Ref: 227

15 July 2008

By Email

Dear Mr Skene

Freedom of Information Act Request

Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act.

In response to your request:;

In Lewisham PCT a decision was made to allow the prescribing of antimalarials drugs including atovaquone/proguanil on the NHS because of the high incidence of patients returning from malarious areas with the condition.

The background document has not yet been ratified therefore is not available.

It is not possible to provide comparative costs because the PCT does not have readily obtainable data on numbers of patients treated for malaria who return from these areas.

We provide information in accordance with our statutory obligations under the Freedom of Information Act. Please note that under the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 Lewisham PCT asks not to receive unsolicited marketing communications.

Provision of this information does not constitute permission for its commercial re-use in the terms of the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005.

You are free to use the information for your own use, including for non-commercial research purposes. The information may also be used for the purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example, by publishing the information or issuing copies to the public will require the permission of the copyright owner.

Further information on the Freedom of Information Act is available from the Information Commissioner's Office:

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

SK9 5AF

Telephone 01625 545700

www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Lesley Aitken

Head of Corporate Office