Medical Cannabis Company Sells First Cannabidiol Capsules

Dispensing medical marijuana may soon become an issue for specialty pharmacy.

The first medical marijuana capsules were made available online to patients in Europe during the month of August and generated the first revenue for medical marijuana pharmaceutical provider MMJ PhytoTech Limited. This achievement marks the first in a long list of goals set by the company and sets the tone for how the cannabidiol (CBD) market is anticipated to play out.

“MMJ is very happy with this landmark accomplishment and we leave the month of August with significant momentum, on track to achieving all stated milestones,” said Tomas Edvinsson, CEO of Satipharm, the web site made available by MMJ PhytoTech Limited for patients to order the CBD capsules.

CBD capsules are a novel innovation that essentially makes medicinal marijuana available in pill form rather than in crude oil form. The capsules are produced in partnership with Ai Fame GmbH, an integrated cannabis-focused pharmaceutical compound manufacturer and Gelpell AG, a premium contract manufacturer of supplements and Phytopharmaka, both based in St. Gallen, Switzerland.

The active ingredient in CBD is derived from a proprietary medicinal cannabis strain that is grown in Switzerland under the country’s controlled guidelines for growing medicinal plant strains. Utilizing Gelpell’s proprietary Microgel capsules, each dose remains consistent and the Microgel capsules work to enhance the bioavailability of the active ingredients through its unique, controlled delivery method.

In contrast, the CBD market’s liquid and oil forms of the medicine are not derived from plants that meet the Swiss government’s standard of medicinal value and cost the same price as the newly engineered CBD capsules.

MMJ PhytoTech Limited officially became a revenue-generating company during the month of August when their website, Satipharm.com, began the initial sales of the CBD capsules. The company intends to produce a total of one million capsules in 2015, selling at approximately EUR 3 per capsule at retail prices and EUR 1.95 at wholesale prices.

The capsules are set to be a potential leader in the highly fragmented European CBD supplement market which is characterized by intermittently available, low quality and low purity products of questionable origin.

“August was a month of ‘firsts’ for the company — it was our first month as the newly merged MMJ PhytoTech Group, our first clinical study was approved, the first CBD capsules were available on our new online direct sales platform and the company’s first revenues were generated.

“These achievements represent the progress we have made as a company in the implementation of our ‘Farm to Pharma’ strategy that will see our operations spanning the entire medical cannabis value chain,” said Andreas Gedeon, CEO and managing director of MMJ.

The use of CBD in medical settings has recently gained acknowledgement by various governments across the globe to be an optimal treatment for conditions such as chronic pain, cancer, anxiety, diabetes, epilepsy, rheumatoid arthritis, PTSD, sleep disorders, cardiovascular disease, antibiotic-resistant infections, and various neurological conditions.

Given the limited supply of such products, the company anticipates generating a significant amount of revenue as a result of the availability of the new CBD capsules. With time, Europe and, indeed, the rest of the world will see a significant change in the availability of these medicines as well as their use in medical settings.