Teva Pharmaceutical enters the therapeutic cannabis market

The pharmaceutical giant Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, considered the world's largest producer of generic drugs, has announced its entry into the medical marijuana after its subsidiary Salomon, Levin, Elstein (S.L.E.) signed a distribution agreement with Israeli company Canndoc.

Under the agreement announced on Friday, S.L.E. will distribute Canndoc's GMP-approved products in Israel, including hospitals, healthcare groups and pharmacies.

S.L.E. can also provide logistics for the export of Canndoc products to countries that allow the sale and distribution of medical cannabis products.

Canndoc is a subsidiary of InterCure, a company chaired since September 2018 by the former Prime Minister and Democratic Union candidate, Ehud Barak.

«Our agreement with S.L.E., a leading Israeli medical products distribution company, creates a complete support platform for the supply of Canndoc's GMP products to any location in Israel and countries with similar regulations,» said Barak. “Through its partnership with S.L.E., Canndoc has partnered with one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies for the distribution of cannabis-based medical treatments in countries that recognize the value of these medicines for people in need.»

The initial distribution agreement covers a three-year period, but includes a mechanism for automatically extending it by two years each time.

«This agreement combines our well-established pharmaceutical distribution network with Canndoc's presence and market leadership, which is a high-quality market,» said S.L.E. CEO Aviad Bossi.

«Beyond operations in Israel, this agreement will provide Canndoc with important logistics capabilities that can support Canndoc's export operations from Israel.»

In its semi-annual report published last month, InterCure announced that the Israeli Medical Cannabis Regulatory Authority had given it the go-ahead to start nine clinical trials. Eight of the nine trials will be Phase II clinical trials.

Clinical trials will examine the effects of Canndoc products on patients suffering from conditions such as epilepsy, fibromyalgia, neuropathic pain, chemotherapy side effects, Parkinson's disease and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Teva is not the first Big Pharma to take an interest in cannabis. Novartis for example, has set up a partnership with Tilray to develop and distribute non-combustible cannabis-based products. Sanofi, Pfizer and Merk also hold patents on cannabis in the USA and Canada.

Last June, Teva also announced the distribution in Israel of the vaporizer from Syqe Medical for medical users.