Aurora Cannabis delivers first shipment of cannabis to France

Aurora Cannabis has officially sent its first shipment of “free” dried cannabis flowers to a select number of patients in France.

A subsidiary of Aurora Cannabis Inc., Aurora Germany GmbH, has partnered with Ethypharm to deliver the first shipment to France of cannabis medicines used in the country’s medical cannabis pilot program. Both Aurora and Ethypharm were selected by the National Agency for Safety Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) to supply dried flowers to French patients.

Both companies signed a cooperation agreement with ANSM in October 2020. In the agreement, Aurora confirmed that it will supply medical cannabis from the company’s largest European facility, Aurora Nordic. Ethypharm is responsible for the distribution of the dried flowers throughout France. According to the program, companies will participate knowing that the product they are sending is “free”.

This is a great honor for the company, according to Aurora’s Chief Executive Officer Miguel Martin. “The first prescriptions of dried medical cannabis under the French pilot program are an important step towards access to patients and will help de-stigmatize medical cannabis in France,” Martin said in a press release.

The statement went on to say, “This achievement is yet another example of Aurora’s leadership in global cannabis, with a proven track record in helping the advancement of international medical cannabis markets with government agencies. We won three of the nine available tenders by showing a deep commitment to compliance and focus on product quality. If successful, this pilot program could lead to one of the largest regulated medical cannabis markets in Europe. “

Jean Monin, Ethypharm’s Chief Commercial Operations Officer, said he was honored that the company was selected to serve French medical cannabis patients. “The combination of our pharmaceutical competencies is, in our opinion, the right approach to build long-term trust and trust in medical cannabis in France,” said Monin. “We want to be a driving force in helping patients with chronic pain when there is no therapeutic option other than medicinal cannabis. With our deep expertise in diseases of the central nervous system and expertise in highly regulated drugs, we are ideally equipped to work with health authorities and doctors. “

Three types of dried flowers are currently being shipped to France: Aurora 20/1 XPE (high in THC), Aurora 8/8 XPE (balanced amount of THC and CBD) and Aurora 1/12 XPE (high in CBD). The flower is consumed with a vaporizer from STORZ & BICKEL.

When the French government announced these efforts on October 7, 2020, it referred to the program as an “experiment”. The original ordinance stated that the program would last “two years from prescription to first patient and no later than March 31, 2021” and will care for up to 3,000 patients.

Nadine Attal, a pain specialist who works at the Ambroise-Paré hospital in Paris, France and is one of the committee members who will oversee the experiment. “There is a group of patients who respond very, very, very well to this product, especially those who have chronic pain who are resistant to everything else,” she said in an interview with Radio France Internationale.

Attal also mentioned that this trial is not a scientific study and some patients will not be given a placebo. Rather, it is a way for researchers to analyze the “real world uses” of cannabis as medicine. “We will learn more about the types of patients who respond and we will be able to identify side effects such as dizziness, drowsiness, fatigue,” she described.

Aurora Cannabis is one of six companies participating in the French medical cannabis program. These include Australian companies Althea and Little Green Pharma, Canadian Tilray, Israel-based Panaxia, and Emmac Life Sciences from the UK. The participating companies are all from abroad, as cannabis flowers with a THC content of over 0.2 percent are illegal in France.