Storz & Bickel to supply vaporizers for medical cannabis trials

The ANSM has selected the company responsible for supplying and delivering vaporizers to patients participating in the medical cannabis trial who will be prescribed cannabis flowers. That company will be the German firm Storz & Bickel, acquired in 2018 by Canopy Growth, with its Mighty vaporizer, one of the best vaporizers on the market.

The choice of vaporizer was one of the prerequisites for prescribing cannabis flowers to French patients, as smoking was not selected as a method for the trial. The medical cannabis flowers will be supplied by Ethypharm, which operates on behalf of Aurora Cannabis; however, no information is currently available regarding the specific batches. The first delivery is nevertheless scheduled for this week.

According to our information, and unlike the products provided free of charge to patients by the various selected companies, Storz & Bickel vaporizers will be funded by the ANSM and provided by retail pharmacies and in-house pharmacies (PUI), after the patient has been enrolled in the trial and subject to an initial prescription for «flowering tops.».

The request for proposals required that:

• The vaporizer does not have a pre-fill system (THC cartridge (for example)
• The exterior walls that come into contact with users do not get hot
• The heating temperature does not exceed 215°C, and a temperature preset system is in place
• The vaporizer should be portable
• It should be possible for the vaporizer to shut off automatically
• A filling chamber capacity of at least 100 mg of dried flowers
• A convection heating system
• «A herb grinder» should be included

In addition, the vaporizer was not to «allow the vaporization of cannabis oils or resins (prohibition on supplying accessories that enable this).».

Throughout the duration of the pilot program, Storz & Bickel must ensure the supply of medical cannabis vaporizers, their delivery, and after-sales service in the event of a malfunction in a device delivered during the pilot program.

Edit: In an earlier version of this article, we stated that pharmacies purchased the inhalers. In fact, the inhalers are funded by the ANSM and provided to patients by pharmacies.