Australian and New Zealand Governments To Establish The Australia New Zealand Therapeutic Products Agency

Posted: Friday 1st July 2011

The intention by the Australian and New Zealand Governments to establish the Australia New Zealand Therapeutic Products Agency (ANZTPA), is welcomed by the Complementary Medicines (CM) Industry said Dr Wendy Morrow, Executive Director of the Complementary Healthcare Council (CHC).


Australian consumers have reduced access to Complementary Medicines, which are termed natural health products in New Zealand, due to the different regulations governing our trans-Tasman neighbours.

"We note and support the Government's decision to exclude Complementary Medicines from the proposed model of the ANZTPA." Dr Morrow said. "We will lead the discussions on this rare opportunity for the Australian regulators to consider introducing an independent regulatory authority for Complementary Medicines, consistent with the approach that has been adopted in New Zealand. An independent regime recognising the philosophical differences between Complementary Medicines and drugs, and consistent with the low risk nature of Complementary Medicines, would enable the industry to achieve meaningful trans Tasman harmonisation which was so nearly concluded in 2007", .

Australia is the only country to regulate these products as Medicines, elsewhere they are regulated as foods or dietary supplements reflecting the low risk nature of the products. Despite this variance of regime there is no meaningful difference between Australia and New Zealand in product safety or incidence of adverse reactions. The Complementary Medicines industry needs to be appropriately regulated by Government in both Australia and New Zealand. Such a new regime would ensure consumers access to safe, quality products that are responsibly marketed and enable Australian consumers access to products which have strong histories of assisting health but to which access has been denied for too long.

The CHC is the Peak Body for the Complementary Medicines industry in Australia. With 70%+ of Australian consumers using the products, the industry achieves sales of $1.9 billion annually, driven by 254 major businesses with exports to 20+ countries, direct employment of 5000+ highly skilled personnel and 60,000 jobs indirectly across supporting industries.