Exclusive: Australia’s medical regulator has become a household name over the past year thanks to its work approving coronavirus vaccines, but that’s just a fraction of the TGA’s work | rachelclun
In a laboratory in an industrial Canberra suburb, a worker sprays fake blood onto surgical masks to see how well they protect against blood. In another lab, a large machine is used to spray a fine, concentrated mist onto more protective types of masks to test their ability to shield against aerosols.
The regulator looks at products before they can be used but it also continues to monitor and research drugs and devices once they’re in use. Uniquely to the region, it is equipped with the laboratories and equipment to test medical devices and products itself.“We’re probably seen in the top six or seven regulators worldwide, and that includes the fact that we’ve got a fully set-up laboratory,” Professor Skerritt says.
The TGA’s experts monitor the cells, using special dyes and machines, to make sure that process works. It requires a specific type of expensive machine, and while the regulator already had one, Professor Skerritt says it made sense to purchase another. As the pandemic took hold, every major medical research facility and pharmaceutical giant in the world turned their minds to developing vaccines, aided by billions of dollars from governments.“Anyone who was a reasonable quality medical scientist was pivoted to work on vaccines,” Professor Skerritt says.
“I drive my people mad by saying, ‘you’ve approved two vaccines, you’ve only got about another 15 to go’,” he says.
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