Report highlights huge potential of cannabis-based drugs

A new industry report highlights huge potential for new cannabis-based drugs aimed at treating a wide range of medical conditions.

The report, released on Thursday 2 September by global cannabis industry consultants Prohibition Partners, highlights how the use of cannabinoids in the treatment of medical conditions, from pain and spasticity to PTSD and epileptic seizures, offers major opportunities.

The current global spend on non-cannabinoid-based pain medications worldwide is estimated to be at US$63-85 billion each year. 

But to date, no single cannabinoid-based drug has received widespread approval for the treatment of pain, despite the fact that this is by far the most common condition for which medical cannabis is used.

Around 200 million people are thought to be using cannabis globally each year, while insights from Prohibition Partners’ 2020 global surveys of cannabis users, indicated that around 40 percent of consumers did so for some medical reason. 

The understanding of what cannabinoids can be used for in the medical setting has largely been patient-led to date, with research often following in lieu of common consumption of cannabis for a given condition.

Prohibition Partners’ The Pharmaceutical Cannabis Report: 2nd Edition report identifies at least 30 late-stage clinical trials using cannabinoids therapeutics, any of which could have a large impact on the medical cannabis space. 

According to its findings, products with new routes of administration are making their way through the approval process, whereas research and development on minor cannabinoids with a lot of therapeutic promise is just beginning. 

In the medium-to-long term, the report suggests that a range of new cannabinoid therapeutics will be approved across the globe. Operators in the space can expect to see these products take up market share at the expense of unapproved flower and oils in the next decade. 

Conor O’Brien, author of the report and analyst at Prohibition Partners, commented: “Many operators in the medical cannabis space are blind to the risks and opportunities arising from cutting edge developments in clinical trials of cannabinoid medicines, the synthetic cannabinoid space, and the innovations in delivery formats and devices. This report details the state of play for medical cannabis technologies and treatments which will inevitably occupy a large share of the medical cannabis market moving forward, with implications for all patients, regulators and operators in the space.”

Read more about the report at Cannabis Wealth

The Pharmaceutical Cannabis Report: 2nd Edition summary can be downloaded here.