Glass Pharms announced the first UK-grown medical cannabis flower to be prescribed as a medicine for UK patients as part of a strategic partnership with the innovative HealthTech platform Releaf.
In 2022, the company raised £26.5 million to build an advanced and sustainable 2.4-hectare glasshouse facility in the West of England. The aim was to commercially produce medical cannabis flower to meet UK demand for cannabis-based medicines (CBPMs).
The facility is powered in a closed loop system by an adjoining anaerobic digestion plant run on food waste; the waste heat is also used for heating and cooling. Water used for cultivation is collected from rainwater, treated onsite and recycled. The design of the greenhouse also reduces the amount of power required for cultivation, resulting in a best-in-class sustainability profile for the facility and hence its cannabis flowers.
Medicines derived from the cannabis flower being grown at the facility are now entering the supply chain and will be stamped with the "Made in Britain®" quality mark. For the first time, UK patients will be able to access CBPMs with a fully domestic supply chain.
"Patients will now have a security of supply that was previously missing from a market that previously relied on imports." said James Duckenfield, Glass Pharms' CEO. "The ability for clinicians to write repeat prescriptions of the same product was previously hit and miss due to supply chain problems. Our continuous harvesting model will help bring an end of the out-of-stock issues that have set back the development of this promising therapeutic area in the UK." Duckenfield went on to say that "We are happy that Releaf is our first customer to bring our flower to market. They have a strong focus on patient experience with an excellent proprietary technology platform to enable it. The combined offering is great news for patients, particularly those who care about the environment."
"Releaf has built a proprietary HealthTech platform designed specifically to serve UK patients whose conditions could benefit from medical cannabis. Patients enjoy a seamless end-to-end experience where they can uniquely transact using Apple Pay, remotely have an initial consultation with a doctor within the web domain and receive their medication the next day.' said Tim Kirby, Releaf's Managing Director, "Releaf's ability to give parents seamless access to highly trained doctors at scale is supported by Glass Pharms' production capability, finally fixing the supply chain issues in the UK."
For more information:
Glass Pharms
glasspharms.com