The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care has commenced a new Medicines Repurposing Program (MRP) to expand treatment options and improve health outcomes for Australians. 

The MRP will identify new uses for existing medicines registered on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG).  It aims to facilitate and encourage the ARTG registration and consideration by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) for listings on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).  

More information on the Medicines Repurposing Program is available on the TGA website. 

Identification of potential medicines suitable for repurposing 

The program will work with clinicians, health organisations, patient groups, researchers, pharmaceutical companies and other interested members of the public to identify opportunities for repurposing.  

Individuals and organisations, can propose new uses for existing medicines, supported by accepted clinical practice and/or publicly available literature, through the nomination form. The program is encouraging nominations with a clear public health benefit substantiated by evidence of established clinical practice. 

Submit your candidate medicine nomination 

The program is now open for nominations via the candidate nomination form.  

Nominations will be assessed in batches on a rolling basis to allow review of eligible medicines at the Advisory Committee on Medicines (ACM) meetings which are held at regular intervals. While there is no cut-off date for nomination submission, nominations submitted by Wednesday, 17 April 2024 will be considered at the June 2024 ACM meeting. Eligible candidate nominations received after 17 April 2024 will be presented at subsequent ACM meetings. 

Program overview webinars  

The program is hosting webinars for interested parties, focusing on the candidate nomination process. 

Online webinars are scheduled for 11:00-11:30pm AEDT Tuesday 12 March and 2:00-2:30pm AEDT Tuesday 19 March 2024. 

 Please note that the content being presented at both Medicines Repurposing webinars will be the same.

 Share with your networks 

We encourage you to share this information with your members and stakeholders. Please use the following links: 

·         Medicines Repurposing Program on the TGA website 

·         Webinar registration  

The MRP has been developed in consultation with stakeholders and we thank all the contributors for their inputs that have helped shape the program. As a newly created program, we will continue to work with stakeholders to refine processes to best ensure the program meet its goals.