Figures released to Cannabiz by the TGA under a Freedom of Information request have confirmed what many GPs already knew — SAS-B approval times blew out big time in March and April 2021.

The new figures include application and approval dates, and show processing times went from an average two days in January and February to five days in March and April, when the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) was working on an IT upgrade.

The body rolled out a new system on April 22 in order to improve storage capability and navigation and tweak state-specific forms to reflect legislative amendments in those jurisdictions.

At the time, a TGA spokesperson told Cannabiz the backlog had extended to seven days at one point, but insisted the issues had been rectified and that its turnaround time of two working days had been restored.

That seems to be borne out by the new data, which shows approval times back to an average of two days in May.

Prior to launching Cannabiz, Martin was co-founder and CEO of Asia-Pac’s leading B2B media and marketing information brand Mumbrella, overseeing its sale to Diversified Communications in 2017. A journalist...

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