On Tuesday, Sandoz AG, Novartis’ subsidiary focused on generic drugs and biosimilars, teamed up with Tilray Canada, Ltd., a subsidiary of Tilray Inc. to increase availability of high quality medical cannabis products across the globe.
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Pharma giant Novartis is taking a leap into researching potential therapies using medical marijuana.
On Tuesday, Sandoz AG, Novartis’ subsidiary focused on generic drugs and biosimilars, teamed up with Tilray Canada, Ltd., a subsidiary of Tilray Inc. to increase availability of high-quality medical cannabis products across the globe. Investors have been pleased since the announcement. Shares of Tilray are up more than 4 percent in premarket trading to $79.99.
In its announcement, which was first reported by STAT News, Tilray said the partnership is an evolution of an existing alliance the company already had with Sandoz Canada. Under terms of this new agreement, the two companies will jointly operate in legal jurisdictions where cannabis is already approved for medical purposes, or soon will be.
While medical marijuana has been approved in several markets, in the United States the idea is still gaining traction. However, cannabis-based drugmakers received a boost earlier this year after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Epidiolex as a treatment for seizures associated with two rare forms of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) and Dravet syndrome. The approval of Epidiolex marked the first time the FDA approved a drug that contains a purified drug substance derived from marijuana. Since the approval of GW Pharmaceuticals’ Epidiolex, other cannabis-based drugmakers have been pushing development of those types of medications. Also, the cannabis-based drugmakers have been pushing for easier access to such drugs when they are ultimately approved.
While financial terms of the deal between Sandoz and Tilray were not disclosed, the two companies did provide a basic outline of the partnership terms. Under those terms, Sandoz can support the global commercialization of Tilray’s “non-smokable and non-combustible medical marijuana products. The two companies will also be able to co-brand some of the medical marijuana products. Sandoz has the potential to use its R&D muscle to potentially develop “new innovative medical cannabis products” with Tilray. The companies will also work in tandem to educate prescribers and the general public about the benefits of using medical marijuana.
Tilray Chief Executive Officer Brendan Kennedy called the agreement with Sandoz a “major milestone in the movement to provide access to safe, GMP-certified medical cannabis to patients in need across the world.”
Tilray currently markets medical marijuana products in 12 different countries, as well as operations in parts of Europe, Latin America and Australia. Tilray was the first licensed medical cannabis producer in North America to obtain current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) certification in accordance with the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) standards.
