Little Green Pharma wins one of France's medical cannabis tenders

Australian company Little Green Pharma (LGP) will continue to supply its 20:1 CBD oils for medical cannabis trials in France. It has also applied for the second call for tenders currently underway. while its products were out of stock following its decision not to provide them free of charge for a third consecutive year.

Extending the experiment

In 2019, the the French government has unveiled its experimental to provide free medicine to 3,000 patients prior to the eventual legalization of medical cannabis in the country.

Under this initiative, the government and patients were not required to pay for the drugs, with the companies supplying them picking up the tab. Although it was a blow to the bottom line of the participating companies, the initiative was an opportunity to gain a foothold in the French market, whose total value is estimated at 5.6 billion euros.

In early 2021, the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Healthcare Products (ANSM) will selected companies to supply the country's free medical cannabis pilot program. Among them was Little Green Pharma, which supplied a CBD 50 oil and a CBD:THC 20:1 oil.

The pilot program was initially scheduled to last two years, but in September 2022 the French government has announced a proposal to extend the trial for a third year, until March 2024.

2 invitations to tender

Following opposition from the participating companies, a the first call for tenders was launched which offered 14 euros per bottle (10mL) of CBD oil. Little Green Pharma's supply for the extended period under this awarded tender was capped at around 11,000 units of CBD:THC 20:1 oil.

However, the proposed remuneration was too low for CBD 50 oil. A second call for tenders was proposed by the French government, with a budget of up to 1 million euros.

Little Green Pharma therefore submitted a separate bid to supply its CBD 50 oil for the extended trial. LGP states that, under the terms of the tender, it was authorized to offer commercial prices up to a ceiling of 1 million euros for the equivalent of 22,500 bottles of CBD 50 oil (50 ml). This tender is now closed and under evaluation.

To date, the company has supplied its CBD:THC 20:1 and CBD 50 oils to patients and claims to have been the majority supplier to the trial with around 85% of the products delivered.

«If cannabis is legalized in France, LGP believes that the limited number of suppliers in the trial will give it a rare opportunity to capitalize on one of the largest potential medical cannabis markets in Europe,» said the company.

The company's partners in this trial are Intsel Chimos, a French pharmaceutical company, and Centre Lab, a pharmaceutical manufacturer working closely with Intsel Chimos in France.

LGP supplies its drugs to France, while Intsel Chimos and Centre Lab handle batch release, distribution, medical information and pharmacovigilance for the trial.

Until the various product discontinuations, patient feedback on the trial was very positive. 91 % out of 1,453 current patients have reported positive results. The various expert reports on the trial's interim results all provided positive feedback.

Edit: in an earlier version, we reported that Little Green Pharma had also won the second tender. This is currently being evaluated and the result is not yet known. The article has been modified accordingly.

Addendum: Little Green Pharma wins second tender 🙂