PRESS RELEASE: Mind Medicine Australia’s Submission to the Australian Productivity Commission’s Mental Health Inquiry – Urgent Need to Establish a Government-Appointed Steering Group to Fast-Track Consideration of Medicine-Assisted Psychotherapies
For immediate release: Monday, 24 February 2020
Mind Medicine Australia (MMA), an Australian-registered charity established to support the development of research-backed and regulatory-approved Medicine-Assisted Psychotherapy in Australia, has publicly released its written submission to the Australian Productivity Commission (APC) in relation to its current inquiry into mental health. The document can be read on the APC website at this below link.
https://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/251950/sub1106-mental-health.pdf
MMA has recommended that a Steering Group be established as soon as possible to advise the Federal Government on the application of Medicine-Assisted Psychotherapy in Australia and that the Government support the creation of a Centre of Excellence to maximise the effectiveness of the application of Medicine-Assisted Psychotherapy in this country.
Medicine-Assisted Psychotherapies, using psilocybin for depression and MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder, have been granted breakthrough therapy designation by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States and are achieving high remission rates in overseas trials. Psychotherapies using these medicines are also being trialled for other mental illnesses, such as addiction, anorexia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The medicines involved have a strong safety record when used in a medically controlled environment.
Peter Hunt AM, Chair of MMA, says that that one of the main explanations for the high rates of mental illness in Australia (according to the APC Interim Report, today, one in five Australians are suffering from a mental illness) is a lack of effective treatment options. “The APC has acknowledged that many of those who seek out mental health support in Australia are receiving an inadequate level of care. One of the fundamental reasons for this is a lack of treatment innovation. We at MMA believe that it’s critical for the APC to explicitly recognise this in its Final Report and that its recommendations to the Government include the urgent establishment of a Steering Group to proactively investigate the introduction and application of Medicine-Assisted Psychotherapies. These treatments could help an enormous number of Australians, as shown by the extraordinarily high remission rates being achieved in clinical trials overseas.”
Tania de Jong AM, Executive Director of MMA, believes that the remission rates that are achieved with Medicine-Assisted Psychotherapies could release vast financial resources to support Australians with other intractable mental illnesses and enable Australia to invest more in prevention measures. “According to the APC, the total direct and indirect costs of mental illness and suicide to the Australian economy is a staggering $180 billion a year. This represents a huge amount of suffering and emphasises the urgent need for new treatment options. Medicine-Assisted Psychotherapy is currently being made available in the United States, Israel, and Switzerland through special access schemes even before Phase 3 trials have been completed; such is the promise and safety associated with these psychotherapies. It’s time to bring these ground-breaking treatments to Australia in a properly controlled manner to help fix our country’s mental health crisis.”
The APC, a national advisory body on microeconomic policy, regulation, as well as other social and environmental issues, is undertaking the inquiry into mental health to understand the role of its improvement in supporting economic participation and enhancing productivity and growth in Australia. The findings are to be delivered by the APC to the Federal Government in May 2020.
Visit https://mindmedicineaustralia.org/ for more information about Medicine-Assisted Psychotherapy in Australia. This media release is attached in pdf and doc formats.
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For all media enquiries, including interviews and images, please contact:
Brad Grimshaw, Communications E:[email protected] M:0476230970
Tania de Jong AM, Executive Director E:[email protected] M:0411459999
