Industry News: UK medicinal cannabis company Grow Pharma to produce products for patients facing possible disruption in supply

Innovative UK medicinal cannabis distributor Grow Pharma has announced that it has trialled the first UK extraction of a cannabis-based medicinal product (CBMP) in a licensed facility, other than GW Pharmaceuticals, in its efforts to replicate and distribute CBMPs to patients whose supply may be disrupted due to technicalities relating to Brexit.

“Although it has been announced that a temporary solution has been found and companies are working on a longer-term solution which may take months, a post Brexit, sustainable and UK based solution for this problem is needed and we are ready to step up to help,” says Pierre van Weperen, CEO of Grow Pharma. He also mentioned that when prescriptions come in, initial samples will be made available free of charge and the actual cost moving forward will be significantly less than parents are used to paying.

Grow Pharma are already legally importing GMP produced Bedrocan flowers into the UK for distribution to medicinal cannabis patients. Bedrocan strains are used to produce the cannabis oil that around 40 families were collecting from a Dutch pharmacy.

Grow Pharma’s partner, IPS Pharma, will produce the cannabis oils in their state-of-the-art EU GMP certified production facility which is based in Surrey. IPS will also be able to capitalise upon extraction and processing expertise developed over three years of research and development by Grow’s R&D arm Grow Biotech. This means, for the first time, these patients will be able to get their medicines from a GMP certified producer.

“We are ready to help these children and their parents and offer them an alternative option. This is an opportunity to establish a UK-based solution that can produce CBMPs to the highest possible standards,” says Pierre van Weperen.

Grow Pharma and IPS Pharma have all the necessary licenses to import the raw materials and produce these medicines. They are able to produce this at a lower price point than UK patients were paying for the equivalent medicine from The Netherlands.

“We will be using the exact same starting material these patients are used to. From a scientific standpoint there is no reason why the end result would differ significantly beyond any fluctuations that may have arisen already within the current production process,” explains Ashok Patel, pharmacist at IPS Pharma.

This will ensure that the children who have been taking oils based on Bedrocan strains will be able to continue treatment without having to switch to an alternative solution.  

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