Smoking remains the primary cause of avoidable disease and death in Australia. Liber believes that NVP technology is a profoundly important and now-mature technology that can hasten the decline of smoking numbers.
The Australian regulatory framework for NVPs represents a unique one-off opportunity to resolve the regulatory conundrum that has vexed regulators globally – how to ensure that smokers maximally benefit from NVP technology while preventing it from being misused and perpetuating nicotine addiction in society.
Liber has supported the medically prescribed access pathway for NVPs since its first announcement and continues to work with stakeholders to ensure that there are sufficient prescribers and a functioning supply chain to allow an orderly transition from the illicit vaping market to medically supervised access.
Nicovape® Q: the preferred prescribed NVP
Liber has developed a closed-system NVP, Nicovape® Q, which was launched on 1 October 2021. Liber is delighted to announce the launch of its new version of the Nicovape® Q in June 2024.
Nicovape® Q was the first, and remains the only, NVP distributed exclusively under medical prescription anywhere globally.
Liber’s Nicovape® Q provides prescribers and dispensing pharmacists with an NVP that is:
- Appropriate as a medical device for smoking cessation and the management of nicotine dependence; and
- Free from the moral and ethical considerations arising from tobacco industry involvement or from being sold as a consumer product in other countries.
Building an NVP for medical licensing
Liber designed Nicovape® Q to be appropriate as a product intended for medical licensing.
In doing so, Liber developed and manufactured Nicovape® Q to its own standard, which exceeds the TGA’s standard for NVPs, Therapeutic Goods (Standard for Therapeutic Vaping Goods) Order 110 (TGO 110).
Liber continues to be committed to medical licensing in Australia, and remains in discussions with regulators to determine the specific requirements to achieve registration on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG), and in other regulated markets.
Establishing a nationwide supply chain
Since launch, Liber has established Nicovape® Q as the leading NVP in Australian pharmacies, with over 2,900 Australian pharmacies holding stock and with their pharmacists trained to dispense NVPs and counsel patients for optimal treatment outcomes.
Liber has achieved its leading position in Australia by being the only NVP distributed through Australia’s CSO pharmaceutical wholesalers, API, Sigma and Symbion.
Liber also has distribution arrangements with leading pharmacy banner groups, including Chemist Warehouse, Priceline, Terry White Chemmart, and others. All remaining pharmacies can access Nicovape® Q through their usual pharmaceutical wholesaler.
Liber is the only NVP manufacturer to have received CPD accreditation from the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) for its training materials on dispensing NVPs.
Helping GPs understand how to prescribe NVPs
Liber continues to work with doctors to ensure they understand the prescribing access pathways for NVPs and the guidance from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and others on how to effectively prescribe NVPs for smoking cessation.
Over the last three years, Liber estimates that it has provided more than 5,000 GPs with materials about prescribing NVPs in a medical framework, and has helped more than 1,000 GPs become authorised prescribers.
Liber does not sell its Nicovape® Q products directly to consumers or individual pharmacies (online or brick-and-mortar) and has no contractual or financial relationships with prescribers or prescribing platforms.
