Therapeutic Goods Administration


The Therapeutic Goods Administration is the regulatory body for therapeutic goods in Australia. It is a Division of the Australian Department of Health established under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 . The TGA is responsible for conducting assessment and monitoring activities to ensure that therapeutic goods available in Australia are of an acceptable standard and that access to therapeutic advances is in a timely manner.

TGA Expert Advisory Committees

The TGA has nine different statutory expert committees it may call upon to obtain independent advice on scientific and technical matters, including:
The governments of Australia and New Zealand were working towards establishing a Trans-Tasman joint agency for the regulation of drugs and therapeutic goods to replace the TGA and New Zealand's Medsafe. However, on 16 July 2007, the New Zealand State Services Minister Annette King announced that "The Government is not proceeding at this stage with legislation that would have enabled the establishment of a joint agency with Australia to regulate therapeutic products". She further advised that "The Government does not have the numbers in Parliament to put in place a sensible, acceptable compromise that would satisfy all parties at this time. The Australian Government has been informed of the situation and agrees that suspending negotiations on the joint authority is a sensible course of action". Further details are available at the Australia New Zealand Therapeutic Products Authority website.