FEATURE
Canadian giant
Canopy to
supply medical
cannabis in
the UK
The world’s biggest cannabis company has set up
shop in the UK.
“In the end it’s a family of
compounds that have tremendous
therapeutic potential”
therapeutic value and encouraging progressive drug policies
that reduce harm and the ‘collateral damage’ caused by
prohibition.
Beckley Canopy Therapeutics’ first clinical trial will
take place in the second quarter of 2019 when they’ll
investigate the effectiveness of cannabis in relieving
cancer pain.
Cosmo Fielding, managing director of Beckley Canopy
Therapeutics and Spectrum Biomedical, said:
“The big cannabis-producing companies recognise the
need to provide more clinical evidence as they move
towards being more pharma-focused and we will see this
ramp-up, with more clinical trials over the next few years.
“I think the global medicinal cannabis market will prove
much bigger than the recreational use market.”
Canopy Growth Corporation launched as Tweed Marijuana
Inc. in 2013 and in May 2018 became the first cannabis-
producing company to be listed on the New York Stock
Exchange.
VAPOUROUND CBD MAGAZINE
Canopy Growth will operate via UK subsidiary Spectrum
Biomedical and will import and distribute specially-
cultivated strains to pharmacies across the UK at the
request of physicians.
Cannabis was legalised for medical use in the UK in
November last year.
Canopy Growth’s chief medical officer, Mark Ware, said:
“We take cannabis very seriously indeed as a medicine.
“In the end it’s a family of compounds that have tremendous
therapeutic potential.”
Spectrum will simplify cannabis by providing physicians
and patients with a chart to help them find the right product
and THC/CBD ratio for the condition being treated.
Mr Ware said:
“Cannabis is very complex, it is used for a huge range of
different conditions.
“The colour-coding is a way to simplify the complexity
of the plant for patients.”
Canopy has joined forces with the Beckley Foundation
to form Beckley Canopy Therapeutics, a partnership that
will research and develop cannabis-based medicines.
The Beckley Foundation scientifically investigates the
effects of psychoactive substances, exploring their potential
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