Several Australians have been hospitalised after consuming ‘mushroom gummies’. This highlights the challenges of regulating products that fall somewhere between a food and a medicine.
The TGA has just approved a vaccine against RSV for Australians over 60. Here’s where protection is up to for the youngest children, who are also at risk from the virus.
From July 1, authorised psychiatrists will be able to prescribe MDMA and psilocybin in some circumstances. Here’s what we’re excited and concerned about.
Australians bought more than 65 million packs of paracetamol pain relief last year. TGA efforts to reduce its potential harms will need to take those who use it to manage pain into consideration.
If the crisis worsens, more people will ask, how did this happen? The answer will be simple: governments made good laws, but they did not enforce them.
The TGA gave low-dose cannabis sales without prescription the green light in February. But no product has jumped through all the regulatory hoops to market yet.
Paxlovid is one potential COVID drug for use at home. The idea is these can potentially be prescribed at the first sign of infection to prevent serious illness and death.
Regulators are currently reviewing the safety and efficacy data of the Pfizer vaccine for five to 11 year olds before deciding whether to approve its use in this age group.
The Moderna vaccine has been provisionally approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration for use in Australia, with one million doses due in the second half of September, which will go to pharmacies.
Whipping cream canisters contain nitrous oxide, which some people use to get high. But going ahead with a proposal before the TGA to ban them altogether would be an overreaction.
A serious event such as a blood clot could be caused by an underlying medical condition, a medication the person was taking at the time, or some other factor unrelated to the vaccine.
Professor - Emerging Technologies (Stem Cells) at The University of Melbourne and Group Leader - Stem Cell Ethics & Policy at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The University of Melbourne