The Australian company Little Green Pharma (LGP) will continue to supply its CBD 20:1 and 50 oils to medical cannabis experimentation in France. It thus won the two calls for tenders in progress while its products were out of stock following its decision not to provide them free of charge for a third consecutive year.
Extension of experimentation
In 2019, the French government unveiled its experiment to provide free medication to 3,000 patients ahead of a possible legalization of medical cannabis in the country.
Under this initiative, the government and patients were not required to pay for the drugs, with the companies supplying them picking up the bill. Although it dealt a blow to the results of the participating companies, this initiative was an opportunity to gain a foothold in the French market, the total value of which is estimated at 5.6 billion euros.
In early 2021, the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) selected companies to provide the country’s free medical cannabis pilot program. Among them was Little Green Pharma which provided a CBD 50 oil and a CBD:THC 20:1 oil.
The pilot program was originally scheduled to last two years, but in September 2022 the French government announced a proposal to extend the trial for a third year, until March 2024.
2 tenders
Following opposition from participating companies, a first call for tenders was launched which offered 14 euros per bottle (10mL) of CBD oil. From our understanding, Little Green Pharma’s supply for the extended period under the awarded tender has been capped at approximately 11,000 units of CBD:THC 20:1 oil.
However, the proposed remuneration was too low for the CBD 50 oil. A second call for tenders was therefore proposed by the French government, with a budget of up to 1 million euros.
Little Green Pharma has therefore separately submitted an offer to supply its CBD 50 oil for the extension of the experiment. LGP indicates that, under the terms of the tender, it was authorized to offer commercial prices up to a ceiling of 1 million euros for the equivalent of 22,500 bottles of CBD 50 oil (50 ml ). This call for tenders is now closed and is being evaluated.
To date, the company has supplied its 1:20 THC:CBD and CBD50 oils to patients and claims to have been the majority supplier in the trial with approximately 85% of products delivered.
“If cannabis is legalized in France, LGP believes the trial’s limited number of providers will give it a rare opportunity to capitalize on one of the largest potential markets for medical cannabis in Europe,” the company said.
The company’s partners in this trial are Intsel Chimos, a French pharmaceutical company, and Center Lab, a pharmaceutical manufacturer that works closely with Intsel Chimos in France.
LGP is supplying its drugs to France, while Intsel Chimos and Center Lab are handling batch release, distribution, medical information and pharmacovigilance for the trial.
Until the various product ruptures, the patient feedback on the experimentation was very favorable. 91% of the 1,453 current patients have reported positive results. The various expert reports on the interim results of the trial have all provided positive feedback.
