Guides to the rules a supplement, food or cosmetic meets in Australia
Plain guides to the rules a wellness product meets in Australia, each checked against the regulator pages it cites: how an AUST L listing works and what it costs, what the ARTG is, what a listed medicine can claim, the stability evidence the TGA expects, who registers with AICIS, and how long development takes.
TGA listing guide
TGA approval for a supplement usually means an AUST L listing on the ARTG. What AUST L means, the steps, the TGO 116 labels and the 2026–27 fees.
Read moreARTG guide
What the ARTG is, what AUST R, AUST L and AUST L(A) numbers mean, how to search the register, and what an entry does and doesn't tell you.
Read moreAICIS guide
What AICIS is, which cosmetics and skincare businesses must register, what registration costs in 2026–27, and where the TGA and labelling rules come in.
Read moreDevelopment timeline
How long it takes to develop a supplement, from our records: 32 days from design to production order at the fastest, the stages, and what holds a launch up.
Read moreStability testing guide
Shelf life testing for listed medicines: the stability evidence the TGA expects, real-time and accelerated studies, ongoing testing and failed results.
Read moreClaims and indications guide
What a TGA-listed medicine can claim: the permitted indications, the evidence the sponsor must hold, the label statements and the advertising rules.
Read moreEvery guide sits under the pathway or service it belongs to, so its breadcrumbs lead back there: the TGA listing, ARTG, claims and stability guides under listed medicines, the AICIS guide under skincare, the timeline under formulation. This page lists them all in one place.
How the guides are written
Each guide opens with its answer in a few lines, then the detail, step by step, then the questions people ask us and the sources it was checked against, with the date. The facts come from the regulator's own pages and the legislation: the TGA, FSANZ, AICIS, the ACCC and the Federal Register of Legislation. Where a guide quotes a figure, such as a TGA fee or a caffeine limit, it was checked on the date the guide shows.
The guides are general information, not advice on a particular product. Timelines from our own records are marked as such.
The guides
- TGA listing for a supplement: the AUST L pathway step by step, with the TGA's fees.
- The ARTG and AUST L numbers: what the register is and what the number on the label means.
- Claims and permitted indications: what a listed medicine can claim, and the evidence behind each claim.
- Stability testing: what the TGA expects, and how the shelf life on the label is supported.
- AICIS registration: who registers to import or make cosmetics and their ingredients, and what it costs.
- How long it takes to develop a supplement: the stages, from our records, and what holds a launch up.
Where to start
- A supplement you want to sell as a medicine. Start with the TGA listing guide, which covers the AUST L listing step by step with the TGA's fees, then the claims and indications guide and the stability testing guide.
- A powder, drink or bar that could be a food. The pathways page settles whether a product is a medicine, a food or a cosmetic, and the food pathway covers the sports food, claims and label rules.
- A cream, serum or sunscreen. The skincare page settles the claim, and the AICIS guide covers who registers and what it costs.
- A launch date. The development timeline guide sets out the stages, from our records, and what holds a launch up.
Where we come in
We take a product through what the guides describe: the pathway at the brief, the formula inside the permitted ingredients and indications, the evidence, the stability program, the label and the listing, then the manufacturing. See the Launch Engine, or book a call.
Case studies
Case studies
Signed brief to dispatch in under six months
5.8 months from signed brief to dispatch
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From a first product to a national pharmacy rollout
About eight months from formulation to dispatch
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Nine products and a long partnership
Five production batches from 2021 to 2025
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Supplement manufacturing, managed from formula to your warehouse
Supplement contract manufacturers matched to your product and managed end to end: specification, release testing, imports and freight to your warehouse.
Product packaging and labelling, from format to print-ready artwork
Product packaging and labelling for supplements, foods and skincare, managed with the product: pack format, compliant label, barcodes and artwork, by one team.
Supplement formulation, designed to be made and sold
Supplement formulation development for brands in Australia and the Asia-Pacific: the formula, its specification and a quote, built for its pathway.
Skincare, sunscreen and cosmetic product development
Creams, serums and sunscreens developed for Australian brands on the cosmetics or TGA pathway: formula, claims, compliance and managed cosmetic manufacturing.
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