Rachel Fieldhouse

interview that he has a PhD in phar-

and I was recognised by people I had

Not all psychiatrists are happy

Professor Skerritt ’ s timeline

He retired in April after more than a decade at the TGA , where he dealt with the regulation of medicinal cannabis , an abandoned plan to merge the TGA with New Zealand ’ s Medsafe drug regulator and , of course , the rage surrounding the agency ’ s approval of COVID-19 vaccines .

Death threats

The latter became “ pretty ugly ” as

anti-vaxxers and conspiracy the-

macology and was “ the first university medallist in pharmacology at the University of Sydney for 150 years ”.

“ There is something certain politicians put on social media — that I knew nothing about immunology and vaccines because I was really an agricultural scientist .

“ In reality , I am a hard-arsed pharmacologist .”

The jibes seemed to be rooted in his past life as deputy secretary at the former Victorian Department of Primary Industries or potentially his time at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation ( CSIRO ) leading “ Australia ’ s first food , agricultural , environmental ,

never met ,” he says . “ It was kind of creepy .” But he is proud of the TGA ’ s work on the vaccines , saying he and his staff worked with “ an unprecedented sense of mission ” in the lead-up to vaccine approvals .

“ It was funny ; it used to be in the old days that , if people phoned you at 7pm or 8pm , they would apologise .”

“ But I was getting calls at 10pm , and nobody would even say , ‘ Sorry to phone you so late .’ They would just launch straight in because that was the way people were working .

“ It is not all about me , but personally , I think I went 169 days without

with what the TGA subsequently did , with many big names warning that approving the treatments is going to put vulnerable and desperate patients at risk of exploitation .

Professor Skerritt says the lobbying , which he describes as “ badgering ”, did not influence the TGA .

“ Lobbyists are part of the 21st century ecosystem ,” he says .

“ There is nothing stopping lobbyists seeking a meeting [ with TGA officials ].

“ Sometimes we take them ; sometimes we don ’ t .”

He adds : “ I won ’ t mention company names , but it does strike me as odd when big companies with hun-

• 1959 — Born in Sydney

• 1983 — PhD and the first University Medal in Pharmacology at the University of Sydney

• 1983 — Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan , recipient of Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship

• 1999-09 — Deputy CEO of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research

• 2009-12 — Deputy secretary at the former Victorian Department of Primary Industries

• 2012-23 — Deputy secretary at the Health Products Regulation Group

orists threatened to kill Professor

biotechnology lab ”.

a day off .

dreds of staff in Australia feel they

Skerritt .

His other alleged crimes include the TGA ’ s decision to restrict prescribing of ivermectin to official indications , like scabies , rather than allowing it to be used as a COVID-19 wonder cure in the absence of any

‘ People would go to get my vehicle for me rather than me walking to the car park at night .’

It is worth stressing the facts : he

“ For our team in the laboratories ,

have to hire lobbyists to get a meeting with the TGA .

“ I guess the lobbyists are there to prove their will .”

Medicinal cannabis

In a similar vein , there is that other

natural and therefore harmless and that it cures everything .”

But is this the system for unapproved drug treatments working as intended ?

“ It is not a rubber stamp ,” says

real evidence .

was once offered a professorship at

for a lot of our evaluators , it was an

illicit drug with promised medical

Professor Skerritt .

These threats were serious , with

Johns Hopkins University school

incredible effort .

potential and a bucketload of hype :

“ If it were a young child being

half of them referred to the Austral-

of medicine in the US but turned it

“ We did check in on the wellbeing

medicinal cannabis .

given a huge amount of THC , we

ian Federal Police .

down for the CSIRO gig .

of all staff regularly . People at all lev-

The TGA ’ s statistics say more

would probably knock it back .”

“ I had to do things like move my

Then in 2012 , he joined the TGA

els were just so committed to what

than a million patients have received

He does admit “ a few ” patients

car and not park it in an obvious

as national manager — despite ques-

they had to do and to the national

cannabis scripts under the Special

may have received unjustified can-

place ,” he says .

tions over whether it would continue

mission . But they were tough times .”

Access Scheme .

nabis scripts , but he stresses the TGA

“ People would go to get my vehicle for me rather than me walking to the car park at night .”

to exist , with the Australian and New Zealand governments weighing up merging their watchdogs into one .

MDMA and psilocybin

But while the focus on COVID-19

That seems mainstream , not special access .

It is worth pointing out that the

had justifiable distractions , grappling with COVID-19 approvals to save tens of thousands of lives .

The vaccine rollout

In the end , more than 60 million

The plan was officially scrapped in 2014 .

He gained the title of deputy sec-

waned , Professor Skerritt was back in the spotlight earlier this year talking about MDMA and psilocybin .

TGA does not collect data on clinical outcomes from medicinal cannabis treatment , although Professor Sker-

The reference to tens of thousands is based on modelling that found 20,000 Australians would

COVID-19 vaccines would be rolled

retary of the Health Products Regu-

In February , Australia made his-

ritt says it would be “ fantastic ” to

have died from COVID-19 if the TGA

out in Australia , including 30 million

lation Group — it is obvious why the

tory as one of the first countries to

see the data .

had waited longer to approve the

administered by GPs . The response

media sticks with ‘ TGA boss ’ — and

recognise psychedelics as a form of

But his instinct is that the bene-

vaccines .

was generally seen as a success story ,

became more widely known during

medicine following aggressive lob-

fits are overhyped .

“ I think history tells us that we

albeit one with a few hiccups .

the COVID-19 pandemic when front-

bying by the controversial charity

“ I would still much rather have

were vindicated by our decisions ,”

This did not stop heckling from

ing press conferences to explain

Mind Medicine Australia .

a patient on 10mg of tetrahydro-

Professor Skerritt says .

backbench MPs that Professor Sker-

the intricacies of phase III studies

The group flew in Professor David

cannabinol ( THC ) a day — even if

“ We didn ’ t sleep much , but we

ritt was out of his depth and unquali-

and the nature of post-marketing

Nutt — a UK neuropsychopharma-

they end up a bit sleepy and cannot

didn ’ t cut corners .”

fied for the role .

surveillance .

cologist and passionate psychedelics

drive — than have them on 80mg of

As for his retirement , what is he

With visible annoyance , he points

“ Six times I was walking down

campaigner — to talk directly with

extended-release oxycodone .

planning ?

out to Australian Doctor during our

the street of a country city in NSW

officials .

“ But the hype is that cannabis is

“ Fade away into anonymity !”