TGA – Government Watchdog or Drug Company Slave?

What follows is the introduction to the lead story in the current Inside Edition, the official newsletter of the Australian Vaccination Network. To subscribe to this bi-monthly online newsletter  for only $25 and to read the full story including the included action alert, please click here:

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is a government body that has been given a mandate to oversee research into both the safety and the effectiveness of all drugs, medical procedures and vaccines licensed in Australia. It has many divisions and departments (including ADRAC – the Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee), which are part of that oversight process.

Many times, when the safety of drugs, vaccines or any medical procedures are questioned, the first response is – the government wouldn’t have allowed this to be licensed if it weren’t first shown to be safe.

While one would like to think that this is the case, the question must be asked – how independent can the TGA possibly be when they are funded through a process known as ‘Cost Recovery’, meaning that drug company licensing fees provide all of the TGA's licensing expenses? This could lead one to believe that the TGA - a body which is supposed to be ensuring the safety of the Australian population - is nothing more than a slave to their true masters - the pharmaceutical companies of the world.

Most people might be under the impression that the TGA is a government-funded body that provides independent testing of drugs and vaccines and only approves them when they have been shown by rigorous and objective double-blind clinical trials to be both safe and effective.

In actuality, the TGA is not funded to do this sort of testing. If anything, the TGA may test to ensure that the ingredients that are listed on the manufacturer’s package insert are actually in the product, but they do not perform their own clinical trials for safety or effectiveness.

When it comes to safety and effectiveness, the TGA simply reviews and assesses the information provided to them by the drug company that will be distributing and profiting from this product.