Largest pharmacy chain enters medicinal cannabis market

Pharma News: The largest pharmacy chain in Australia, with over 300 stores across the country, has entered into a joint venture with Wellnex Life’s OneLife Botanicals to launch medicinal cannabis products for the rapidly emerging Special Access Scheme Category B (SAS-B) market in Australia.

Under the terms of the joint venture, Chemist Warehouse will receive a 10% interest in the existing joint venture between Wellnex and OneLife.

Last year, 970,041 Australian patients, including 307,026 new patients, were prescribed medical cannabis by authorised prescribers. Australian regulators in 2016 created several pathways under which medical cannabis can be legally prescribed to patients.

The SAS-B allows medical practitioners to prescribe medicinal cannabis products to patients that are not included in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG). According to the latest figures, the number of SAS-B applications for 2023 to date is almost 20,000. Last year the figure for the full year was 117,000 with most TGA applications being for chronic pain and most prescribers located in QLD followed by VIC.

Wellnex will initially launch five medicinal cannabis products under a new joint venture brand that will be made available across the extensive Chemist Warehouse network. These initial products have been developed with consideration to the best-selling products currently in the market and will range across different product formats, with oral liquid and dried herbs being dispensed most according to TGA data.

The joint venture is aiming to deliver the first of these products by the end of FY23. Wellnex will also extend the distribution of these products to other pharmaceutical customers to further expand its distribution channels.

George Karafotias, CEO of Wellnex Life, said “We are delighted to announce that Wellnex will be initially launching five medicinal cannabis products through our joint venture partnership with OneLife Botanicals. The products developed will be launched under a newly created jointly-owned brand with Chemist Warehouse. The products will be distributed through Chemist Warehouse’s extensive network, as well as additional pharmacy wholesalers and pharmacies. We are excited to be entering a rapidly transforming industry which is seeing surging consumer demand with growing recognition of the legitimacy of cannabis-based medicine by patients and prescribers.”

To complement the launch of the new medicinal cannabis products, the joint venture has reached an exclusive agreement with OnTracka, a long-term participant in the medical cannabis industry. OnTracka, using their deep industry expertise and data, will develop a new telehealth application that will connect patients with authorised prescribers and relevant cannabis products, to ensure a seamless process for prescription and management for patients.

This deal come five months after Wellnex joint venture partner OneLife acquired medicinal cannabis manufacturer MediPharm Australia, including the company’s Australian facility, specialised licensing, operational knowledge and ANZ customers currently served from the facility.

The medicinal cannabis market in Australia continues to expand year-on-year both in revenue and patients, with sales in 2022 to circa $423 million.

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