Department of Health
MEDICINES CONTROL AGENCY
Market Towers 1 Nine Elms Lane London SW8 5NQ
Telephone 0171-273 0270
Facsimile 0171- 273 0293

Dear Charles

Thank you for your further letter of 16 January regarding your paper "The Antidepressant Web".

You appear to be under the impression that we are proposing a formal public consultation exercise but this is not the case. We are seeking the views of a wide range of expert advisers and other relevant bodies and are asking for:

(1) their perspective on the issues you have raised; and

(2) any information they have which is relevant to these matters

to inform the review I mentioned in my previous letter.

It is our normal policy for such correspondence to be treated as confidential (though I have advised you above of what we are asking for) because this is part of the process of deliberation and advice covered by Exemption 2 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. Disclosure of the replies we receive would harm the frankness and candour of advice and opinions given.

I will let you have an update on developments in due course and what further action, if any, we propose.

With regard to the abstract you cite, we do not hold a record of when the MCA first received the article. Dr Wood has already commented on the abstract in her letter dated 23 January and there is nothing further I can add.

If you have a query about this letter, please contact me. If you are unhappy with my decision, you may ask for it to be reviewed. If you wish to ask for a review, you should write to me in the first instance. After that, if you are still unhappy, you may ask a Member of Parliament to make a complaint on your behalf to the Ombudsman (known officially as the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration) who will decide whether or not to conduct his own enquiry.

Yours sincerely

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