TGA warns of safety risks after rejecting GPs’ bid for isotretinoin prescribing rights
Among the scheduling delegate’s concerns was that single-product telehealth models could exploit isotretinoin prescribing.
The TGA has rejected an RACGP application to allow GPs to prescribe isotretinoin for moderate or severe acne, citing patient safety concerns and the risk of misuse by telehealth businesses.
Last year, the college lodged an application to the watchdog’s scheduling committee for GPs with additional training to prescribe the drug, arguing that it would improve access and was within their scope of practice.
But in an interim decision published last week, the TGA said prescribing would remain restricted to physicians and dermatologists.
It followed 383 submissions objecting to GP prescribing of the S4 drug and 10 submissions fully or partly supporting the proposal.
