A new medical cannabis product is available in Peru, another sign the market is moving in the right direction in terms of business opportunities.
Toronto-headquartered Khiron Life Sciences, a company with its main operations in Colombia, said it became the “first company to sell and fill medical cannabis prescriptions through private pharmacies in Peru.”
Khiron’s CBD is sold as a magistral preparation through Peruvian pharmacy chain Farmacia Universal.
With this new option, patients in Peru have access to two medicinal CBD products: One is imported from the United States and sold through a pharmacy owned and operated by the Peruvian General Directorate of Medicines, Supplies and Drugs (DIGEMID); the other is Khiron’s product imported from Colombia:
- The one offered by the DIGEMID pharmacy has a concentration of almost 5% CBD and is sold in 10- milliliter bottles for almost 48 soles ($13).
- Farmacia Universal told Marijuana Business Daily the price of 30-milliliter bottles with a concentration of 3% CBD retails for 215 soles, but larger options with a higher CBD concentration are available at a lower cost per milligram of cannabinoids.
No product with meaningful amounts of THC is currently available in the country.
GW Pharmaceuticals’ Sativex was registered last December but still is not available in Peru, according to local media.
Maritza Reátegui, partner and head of Rodrigo, Elías & Medrano Abogado’s Life Sciences & Healthcare group, shared the latest data about the market with MJBizDaily.
She obtained the figures from authorities through public information requests to DIGEMID and the anti-narcotics unit of the Peruvian national police, DIRANDRO.
Reátegui found that:
- The government registry of cannabis patients is about to reach the 8,000 mark. However, registering does not guarantee access to a prescription or even product. It’s a simple process anyone can complete online.
- Twelve companies submitted applications to register 34 products. A handful of these were already approved but are still unavailable to patients. Registered products should not be confused with magistral preparations.
- DIGEMID granted 36 licenses to import and/or sell medical cannabis.
- DIGEMID granted 33 individual import licenses, commonly called “compassionate use” in the region.
- DIRANDRO approved 28 security protocols – 26 were automatically approved at submission, and two were approved after evaluation.
- Although several companies submitted license applications to produce in Peru, none have been granted so far.
Reátegui told MJBizDaily the biggest change in recent weeks has been “the spike of new licenses to import and/or sell medical cannabis to patients.”
Alfredo Pascual can be reached at alfredop@mjbizdaily.com
