I attended a very interesting Life Sciences Ontario (LSO) breakfast meeting on medical marijuana in Canada. Here are some key takeaways:

Production

• Currently there are only 38 licensed producers (LPs) in Canada that grow the plant.
• Regulators control access to this market tightly and barriers for new companies to become licensed producers are high.
• One of the challenges for production is to grow a standardized crop, i.e. plants that have roughly the same level of chemical compounds in them crop after crop.
• Canada is perceived as one of the top players worldwide for growing of marijuana under controlled conditions that will stand up to health regulators’ scrutiny (along with Israel).

Distribution

• Dispensaries are illegal – there is no legal grey zone. It is not Health Canada’s job to monitor dispensaries. This is the responsibility of municipalities. There seem to be crack downs on dispensaries occasionally, but then they spring up again.
• The only legal way to obtain medical marijuana in Canada is through licensed producers, and they will ship the product to the patient directly.
• There is currently a push to make other forms of distribution legal. At the forefront of this is Shoppers Drug Mart’s effort to convince regulators to let them dispense the product at their pharmacies. So far, no luck.

Acceptance in physician practice and among patients

• Clinical studies on the benefits of medical marijuana are challenging since it is difficult to grow a stable product that will have the same properties throughout the course of the trial. Getting clinical studies published in peer-reviewed journals is also challenging. However, audience members felt that Canada is in an advantageous position in terms of conducting more research in this area.
• The Canadian Medical Association does not condone widespread prescribing of medical marijuana, but it also does not actively deter physicians.
• One of the challenges for physicians in prescribing medical marijuana is the fact that the product comes in a variety of forms and may not be stable/standardized. Many are uncomfortable prescribing the dry form, since it is unclear how exactly to dose it for a given patient. Prescribing the oil may be easier for physicians.
• Patients may also have different preferences for an oil vs an inhaled product or even an edible.

Taxation

• Experience in the U.S. has shown that the market will be impacted by decisions on taxation. If, for example, medical marijuana is taxed heavily and the recreational use of the product is taxed more lightly, patients will tend not to bother getting a prescription.

Regulatory

• The regulatory process is moving slowly, slowly. While a regulatory framework has recently been proposed, making it into law could take 18 months or longer. According to meeting participants, the proposed framework will likely undergo many changes, and a final decision is not expected before 2019.

The LSO breakfast meeting took place on January 19, 2017 at the offices of Fasken Martineau in Toronto. The meeting was chaired by LSO Board member Dr. Alison Symington. The panelists were:

Ken Clement, CEO of ABcann Medicinals Inc, a licensed producer of medical marijuana. ABcann’s business is focused on growing organic standardized medical cannabis, recognizing that an expertise in growing standardized crops positions the company well in the medical marijuana market.

Christelle Gedeon, Associate at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin, is one of the firm’s regulatory affairs specialists with expertise in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, natural health products and medical marijuana, among other things.

Nick Antoniadis, Principal at Nick Antoniadis Consulting, is owner of his Toronto-based management consulting company. He is a marketing leader with over 20-years-experience in global healthcare. In the medical marijuana market, he has focused on connecting with and gaining insights from patient aggregators such as prescribing physicians.

Summary prepared by Barbara McGrath, PhD, Owner of Creative Research Designs, a company that provides customer insight and market research to companies in healthcare. This summary was not reviewed by LSO or any of the meeting participants. It reflects my own understanding of what was being said. You can contact me at: barbara@creativeresearchdesigns.com