The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) issued 118,340 SAS-B approvals in 2022, a decline from the 122,011 recorded in 2021 — the first year-on-year drop in the figure.
The fall, however, is largely a reflection of changes the TGA introduced in November 2021, under which prescribers need to seek fewer individual approvals even when writing more prescriptions overall.
One industry observer said the actual number of medicinal cannabis patients likely doubled or even tripled during 2022, though the updated system means SAS-B and Authorised Prescriber figures recorded after November 2021 cannot be directly compared to historical data.
December recorded only 8,090 approvals, falling below the previous low of 8,684 set in January.
