Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee, , 2:34:28 to 2:37:32
Senators question the TGA on the transparency and membership of the medicinal cannabis expert working group and the agency's role in evaluating product safety and effectiveness.
Topics: Health, Integrity
Speakers: Prof Anthony Lawler, Avi Rebera, Senator Malcolm Roberts
Thank you. Uh cannabis has been legal for many years, but it seems like the T to people in the cannabis uh medicinal cannabis space, it seems that uh the TGA's approach is to not embrace a natural product but to restrict it and to control it, maybe for the benefit of someone who might have monopoly rights on the preparation. You have an expert committee on cannabis. Could you please provide on notice the names of these people, who they are, their backgrounds, and that can be de-identified. Minutes of meetings held in the last 12 months, and any reports or recommendations they've made, please.
I'll ask Mr. Mr. Rebera to comment on that. We did uh have some discussion uh as I mentioned uh around the medicinal cannabis expert working group uh and again that's that's related under um question on notice SQ26002814. But I would just really um I think it's important to clarify that it's not the role of TGA to embrace a product or embrace therapy. Um, the role of the TGA is to evaluate products for effectiveness, safety and quality. Uh, where a product has proven quality, uh obviously the the acceptance of risk is higher when there is uh limited evidence for the effectiveness of a product, then obviously we manage the risk in a different way. Um we've been very clear previously that we would very much welcome an application to have uh a medicinal cannabis product evaluated for safety, quality and effectiveness. I think it's safe to say that we've not received one. Um it would certainly make things much easier in terms of being able to access an approved product, but as I say, I just would highlight that it's not the role of the TGA to embrace or reject um anything except on the basis of um safety, quality and effectiveness. But on the matter of the expert working group, Mr.
Thank you, Professor. If I could just add to Professor Law's comments, though, in in relation to the products themselves. Um industry have also provided us feedback in that consultation that we should be looking at more in terms of the labelling, the quality and the safety aspects, and to provide them with a pathway that will allow for the TGA to have proper regulatory oversight. So they are providing us feedback in relation to the products that they want to supply and wanting it to follow the regulatory pathway. Uh specifically in relation to the medicinal cannabis expert working group, we do publish on our website what is the role and the objectives of that group, a breakup from the perspective of the expertise that we have that we we want in that group from a membership basis, and we do publish uh the meeting communique as well on there. Um it's an expert working group, we don't publish who the membership is based on and the individual members on there.
How can the people of Australia have faith that that the you've got a good cross-section there?
Um I'll just highlight Senator that that I've had a look, and we we actually did answer questions regarding the membership of the medical cannabis uh medicinal cannabis expert working group at um question