The TGA recently released a new medical cannabis dashboard detailing a variety of information on both SAS-A and SAS-B approvals. They announced that they’re ‘committed to ongoing transparency and will release additional datasets in the future’, such as data on Authorised Prescriber applications and the concentrations of active ingredients.
Since launching the SAS-B approval pathway, the TGA has processed more than 148,000 applications to access one of the many medical cannabis products available. These have been pushed through the system by more than 3,400 Authorised Prescribers, with less than 10, or 0.000067% of applications getting denied.
Cannabis is currently used to treat a wide range of conditions. However, It’s interesting to note that even though many GPs in Australia are still anti-cannabis when it comes to managing chronic pain, it is, by far, the most common condition patients use medical cannabis to manage.
Our friends in the sunshine state are currently the largest consumers of medical cannabis, with more than 76,000 applications in the past few years. Followed by New South Wales and Victoria with 32,000 and 27,400 applications, respectively.
Tasmania and the NT are shown as 0.0% because their numbers are too low to be plotted. Just 56 applications have been made in the NT, and 50 in Tasmania.
Cannabis oils and solutions remain the dominant method of consumption, accounting for more than 57% of all applications. This is likely due to them being preferred consumption methods by patients and the high number of medicines available.
You can see the access the dashboard and see all the data for yourself here.
