Australia’s national science agency has been granted a manufacturing licence to develop medicinal cannabis products by the Australian Office of Drug Control.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) says it will work to bridge the gap between cannabis cultivation and medicine manufacture, developing protocols and the first prototype products before transferring the technology to manufacturers.

A handful of small, young Australian firms are taking a chance on Europe in spite of the region's diverse markets, hopeful that a capital-light investment strategy will diminish their risks.

Europe could be a hard market to crack as regulations vary by country, but favourable rulings for medical marijuana and potential demand are promising factors. The companies reckon that establishing an early base there and working with European partners will help them better negotiate different markets and steal a march on larger North American rivals.

Cann Group and MGC Pharmaceuticals are among many firms that have pushed into Europe, recently signing partnerships to distribute medical marijuana products and also exploring a dual-listing in the region.

Researchers at the University of Sydney are conducting a wide-ranging study concerning quality of life issues for medicinal cannabis patients.

Funded by Australian medicinal cannabis firm Little Green Pharma (LGP), the QUality of life Evaluation STudy (The QUEST Initiative) will delve into related patient outcomes and aims to recruit 2,100 patients by June this year.

The Australian Government is backing the study.

“The QUEST Initiative represents a significant Australian contribution to the global need for reliable, objective and clinically-relevant quality of life data for patients accessing medicinal cannabis treatments for a broad range of chronic conditions,” said Federal Minister for Health, Greg Hunt.

Yesterday marked a big regulatory step forward in Australia for the availability of cannabidiol without a prescription, but where can you buy it? Find out what’s happening.

In December last year, Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) published its final decision on down-scheduling certain CBD preparations to Pharmacist Only Medicines (Schedule 3), meaning qualifying products will be available without a prescription.

France’s Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) has chosen companies that will supply the country’s free medical cannabis pilot program.

In October last year, the French government announced it will be providing up to 3,000 patients with free medical cannabis products – and it won’t be the government picking up the tab, but companies supplying the medicines.

Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration approved 57,781 SAS (Special Access Scheme) Category B applications for unapproved medicinal cannabis products in 2020.

It was a huge year given the TGA has only approved 85,000 SAS Category B applications since this medicinal cannabis pathway was established way back in 1992. Here’s how 2020 shaped up for approvals for each month according to the TGA.

There’s still more to be done to improve patient access to medical cannabis in Western Australia says the director of a medical clinic in Perth’s western suburbs.

In November 2019, changes were made to Western Australia’s medical cannabis program to make patient access a little easier. Previously, patients would need a referral to a specialist from a GP in order to gain a prescription for cannabis medicines, but the change enabled GPs the ability to prescribe medicines where a patient is over the age of 16, isn’t drug dependent and doesn’t have a history of drug use.

Australia’s Neurotech International Limited (ASX: NTI) has reported final results of in-vitro studies indicate its DOLCE/NTI cannabis strains exhibit potent anti-inflammatory activity.

Neurotech acquired an exclusive worldwide license to utilise proprietary cannabis strains from Dolce Cann Global, which it hopes could potentially be used to treat neurological disorders including autism, epilepsy and ADHD.

Neurotech’s analysis of 80 cannabis samples from the Dolce Cann Global revealed varying amounts of  cannabinoids including CBDV, CBDA, CBGA, CBG, CBD, THCV, CBN, THC, d8-THC, CBC and THCA – some of the many cannabinoids found in cannabis. CBDA was found to be present in particularly high levels.

Australia is now officially allowing for medical cannabis to be purchased from a pharmacy without even getting a prescription. However, it won’t happen right away, as there are currently no approved products available, and some would have liked to see more from this law. 

Australia is a legal cannabis market that rarely receives the attention it deserves and is a market that we are bullish on in 2021.

In 2019, we noticed a slowdown in interest in the Australian cannabis market as companies started to focus on the opportunity in Latin America. Since then, the Latin American cannabis market has not grown as much as expected while the Australian market has shown signs of strength. Article originally published on technical420.com