Cheaper cannabis-based drugs to arrive in pharmacies

NEWS 14.05.201811:16
Ilustracija

The shortage of medicinal cannabis, caused by the expiration of the last cannabis-based treatments imported into the country, should be addressed soon with a new shipment of drugs that have been cleared to use to treat patients suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV, and the Dravet syndrome.

The state-owned Immunology Institute, which is licensed to import these medications, is preparing to place new orders of drugs, to be sold at significantly lower prices than before, the Novi List daily reported on Monday.

The price was one of the key factors which made cannabis-based legal drugs unpopular with patients. Another was the reluctance of many doctors to prescribe them, which drove patients to look for them in the black market, where these treatments are somewhat cheaper, but of dubious quality and effect.

Although medicinal cannabis was legalised in Croatia in 2015, the enthusiasm for cannabis-based drugs was short-lived. Pharmacies say the interest is exceptionally low, mainly because, depending on the dosage, the treatment can cost up to 2,500 kuna ( €338) per month.

“When medicinal cannabis was legalised in Croatia, we expected a surge in demand. However, in the first 20 days since its introduction, we haven’t had a single patient with a prescription for it. And even today, very few patients go to pharmacies, they still tend to turn to the black market instead,” head of the Croatian Chamber of Pharmacists (HLJK), Ana Soldo, told Novi List.
Soldo added that in spite of the high prices, an even bigger problem are the low dosages which are legally allowed. The largest dosage that can be legally prescribed, and given to terminally ill patients only, costs 2,500 kuna per month, while a therapy to treat multiple sclerosis spasms costs around 700 kuna per month.
In the black market, where there are no such limits, a month-long treatment can cost up to 5,000 kuna.
“Patients say that the dosages which have been officially allowed and registered are too low for them, so the drugs we had on offer did not help them enough,” said Soldo. For this reason, pharmacists are calling for a systematic monitoring of patients who use medicinal cannabis, in order to determine whether currently allowed therapies are working or not, Novi List reported.

Chairman of the government’s Committee for Medical Cannabis, Ognjen Brborovic, said that the committee should continue its work by expanding the list of conditions treated by cannabis, including chronic pain. Brborovic also commented on the reluctance of doctors to prescribe cannabis-based drugs, and said this was a common problem seen in other countries as well. For example, Brborovic said, only 10-15 percent of doctors in the Netherlands said they were willing to prescribe them.

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