Australia's medical cannabis program finally takes off

It will soon be three years since Australia legalized medical cannabis (February 2016). Since then, the country has struggled to establish its industry, which is still largely dependent on imports from Canada. Despite the legalization of medical cannabis and the political support behind it, a relatively small number of patients have so far had access to treatment.

Today, the Australian medical cannabis market is finally beginning to develop: the number of authorized patients is rising rapidly and doctors are increasingly open to prescribing it.

Australia's medical cannabis program

Australia's medical cannabis program bears a striking resemblance to the British program. Patients can benefit from cannabis in three different ways:

• Authorised prescription scheme either by prescription from a specialist physician who has obtained prior approval from the Ministry of Health and Therapeutic Resources Administration to prescribe the drug.
• Special access scheme either through a request from the patient to his or her doctor, who, if he or she considers the patient eligible for the program, will forward the application file to the competent authorities, who will decide whether or not to approve it.
• Through clinical trials.

If a prescription is obtained, the patient can obtain medical cannabis from a pharmacist. In general, medical cannabis has so far had very limited availability, forcing patients to obtain supplies through clinical trials. Since 2018, however, there has been a rapid increase in the number of patients approved by health authorities. After a period of inertia, the market is beginning to take off.

A question of tools?

Applications for medical cannabis have long stagnated until the introduction in March 2018 of a single digitized application route. The Therapeutic Resources Administration has indeed set up a website where doctors are able to enter the application and then follow it step by step. In the months following the site's launch, the number of applications increased by over 1,000. It seems that this new tool and simplified procedure have been decisive.

Last November, 568 applications were approved. That's 42% times more than the average rate of approved applications per month. In February, for example, there were just 37. From January to November, that's 2072 applications accepted, a first for the Australian program. A study by New Frontier Data estimates the number of patients in the program at 330,000 by 2025.

Cannabis accepted

According to Russell Harding, founder and CEO of MedReleaf Australia, a subsidiary of Aurora Cannabis, explains that the website has changed many things, but that in general, practitioners have become more familiar with the procedure and better educated about medical cannabis. For Fleta Solomonla, Director of Little Green PharmaThe No. 1 factor, in addition to the fact that more and more patients are asking to be treated with cannabinoids, is that general practitioners can now prescribe with greater ease, and don't need a specialist's endorsement to pass on patient applications«.

In the UK, on the other hand, GPs are not yet empowered to prescribe medical cannabis, nor are specialists, due to a lack of information and education, are still reluctant to prescribe it. For the time being, the British medical cannabis market, which had raised so many hopes among EU patients, is barely functional. As the Australian case shows, it will take time for the product to become commonplace and for less restrictive access routes to emerge.

A persistent problem for the Australian market, however, is the lack of local production. The industry is extremely dependent on imports of Canadian cannabis, which results in prohibitive costs for licensed patients. Little Green Pharma was one of the first companies to grow cannabis locally for the domestic market. A production which, if it flourishes, will then be able to supply future Asian markets.