The greenfern team have been busy working away at the coal face on the medical research front over the last few months. Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in December 2020 made a move to allow low dose CBD with a daily maximum dose of 150mg to be sold at pharmacies without a prescription and this was to come into effect as of February 1st this year. This would mean these products would fall under a schedule 3 medicine which would not require a physician's prescription but would be located behind the counter in a locked cupboard under the supervision of a pharmacist.
Greenfern has harnessed the expertise of Australian company Cannvalate along with The Medicinal Cannabis Research Collaboration (MCRC), which is a joint venture between Cannvalate and a major Melbourne University. The aim is to bring a medicine that through a series of clinical trials has proven safety and efficacy at the end of it and can be registered with the TGA.
While the down scheduling caused a lot of excitement and had people rushing to their local pharmacies in the hopes of easily purchasing CBD products the actual task of bringing a medicine, under the schedule 3 programme could take up to two years or more.
Greenfern are excited to be early movers in this space and believe that the same descheduling will eventually come into play here in New Zealand. However in the meantime they are working through the process of bringing a GMP manufactured product to New Zealand under the now one year old Medicinal Cannabis Scheme rules which to date no New Zealand company has been able to achieve due to the extremely high standards set out within the Guidance for a New Medicinal Product Application by the Ministry of Health.
For more information follow this link: https://www.cannabiz.com.au/patience-the-watchword-as-companies-line-up-to-put-s3-visions-to-the-test/