Call for pharmacies to dispense medicinal cannabis

Expanding the Isle of Man's medicinal cannabis dispensing service should give patients "more choice" and create "lower prices", the health minister has said.

Karsons Pharmacy in Onchan was awarded the licence to import and dispense the products for private prescriptions during a pilot, which was extended in November.

The Department of Health and Social Care expanded the scheme on 11 July to allow other businesses to submit applications for a licence.

Lawrie Hooper MHK said "opening up" the market should create competition between providers to "bring prices down, which will be better for patients".

More than 650 patients aged between 18 and 86 used the pilot service, with an average of 335 items dispensed each month, most for chronic pain conditions.

Medicinal cannabis is not currently available on the Manx NHS and there are no GPs registered to prescribe it.

But the pharmacy service opens to the door for patients on the Isle of Man to be given the product after obtaining prescriptions from private clinics in England.

Mr Hooper said the service would continue to be available on private prescription and not the NHS as "the medicines themselves are not approved by NICE, and so haven’t gone through the rigorous cost-effectiveness processes".

But he said the expansion of the service, which had received "overwhelmingly positive feedback, would provide "healthy competition" between operators and "should help improve standards and lower prices".

Successful applicants will be subject to inspections and be expected to provide regular reports to the department.

Legislation to set the licence and registration fees is still being developed by the department, and is not expected until the end of 2024, so new providers would be granted temporary licences at no cost in the meantime.

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