UK Licenses Canopy Growth for Bulk Medical Cannabis Imports

Canopy Growth’s pharmaceutical division, Spectrum Therapeutics, has been granted a license to import bulk medical cannabis into the United Kingdom, the Financial Times reports. It’s the first such license issued by the Home Office and will allow the company to import cannabis from its facilities in Germany and Denmark and store it in its Buckinghamshire facility.

Paul Steckler, managing director of Canopy’s European business, said the license will allow Canopy to send its medical cannabis products out the next day to UK patients – like it does in Germany. Currently, UK patients can wait up to three months for medical cannabis – which was legalized last November – since wholesalers have needed to wait for an import license from UK officials.

The UK’s medical cannabis program is extremely limited, and it can only be prescribed when all other treatments have failed. Steckler told the Times that the company was “not even looking” at recreational cannabis opportunities in Europe.

“It’s enough of a challenge getting product to patients where it is actually legal.” – Steckler, to the Times

According to the Times, just 1,765 prescriptions have been issued in the UK since legalization last year. Canopy’s Buckinghamshire facility can store enough cannabis to supply 5,000 patients a month.

In June, Spectrum announced they had completed two phase I trials focused on critical dosing and safety data for a proprietary cannabis products which would inform phase II trials. The company also indicated that it had began phase II “proof of concept” trials focused on more than 20 conditions – including sleep, pain, and mood and anxiety disorders – in partnership with researchers at Canada’s Université de Montréal, McGill University, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.