Curaleaf Secures Australian Approval for Medical Cannabis Inhaler, Lists in New Zealand

LONDON – Curaleaf International, part of Curaleaf Holdings, Inc., in partnership with Jupiter Research LLC, announced that its Que Medical Inhalation Device (QMID) has been registered by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) as a Class IIb Medical Device in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG). This makes the QMID the first device for the inhaled delivery of Cannabis extracts to earn that designation in Australia.

Two days later, the device was added to New Zealand’s Web Assisted Notification of Devices (WAND) database, operated by Medsafe, making it available to prescribers across the Tasman as well.

The announcement addresses a longstanding structural issue in Australia’s medical Cannabis supply chain. While Cannabis-based medicines have been accessible through the TGA’s approved prescribing pathways since 2016, the inhalation devices used to deliver them have largely sat outside the ARTG. Prescribers and pharmacists reported difficulty obtaining approvals for unregistered batteries, leaving some patients with their prescribed medicine but no compliant means of using it. The regulator repeatedly called for clinical justification where unapproved devices were used. QMID is now the registered alternative.

The device is designed to aerosolize liquid Cannabis medicine through a rechargeable unit fitted with magnetic snap-in cartridges. Its approved-cartridge-only compatibility and compact form were built with both clinical consistency and discreet patient use in mind.

QMID’s path to Australia ran through Europe first. In May 2025, it became the first handheld liquid inhalation device for consistent medical Cannabis administration to achieve certification as a Class IIa medical device under the European Medical Device Regulation (EU) 2017/745. Australia becomes the second jurisdiction to formally register it. The device is now available in seven countries.

Australia’s medical Cannabis market crossed the AU$1 billion mark in 2025 [a figure that was effectively zero a decade ago] and is the dominant medical Cannabis market in the Asia-Pacific region by a wide margin. More than one million patients have accessed treatment through authorized pathways since the prescribing framework was established in 2016.

The Australian market built its volume on the strength of its prescription framework, not on a fully compliant delivery infrastructure to back it up. Getting the inhalation device formally registered, with safety and performance assessments on record, is the structural correction this market has needed for some time. Regulatory credibility, at this stage of the industry’s development, carries more weight than any headline growth number.