A new industry report has highlighted the huge “untapped” potential of cannabis-based pharmaceuticals.
The report, released on Thursday 2 September by global cannabis industry consultants Prohibition Partners, finds that research on the endocannabinoid system (ECS) is one of the most promising – and potentially lucrative – avenues for new therapeutics in medicine.
It highlights how the use of cannabinoids in the treatment of medical conditions, from pain and spasticity to PTSD and epileptic seizures, offers major opportunities.
The current global spend on non-cannabinoid-based pain medications worldwide is estimated at US$63-85 billion each year.
To date, no single cannabinoid-based drug has received widespread approval for the treatment of pain, despite the fact that this is by far the most common condition for which medical cannabis is used.
The market for pharmaceutical products which leverage the ECS to treat illness remains largely untapped, according to the report.
Around 200 million people are thought to be using cannabis globally each year, with insights from Prohibition Partners’ global surveys of cannabis users in 2020, indicating that around 40 percent of cannabis users have some medical component to their usage.
Despite the seeming involvement of the ECS in the majority of human illnesses, there are only a handful of drugs on the market which modulate it.
Sales set to reach €1.8 billion by 2025
Prohibition Partners estimate the market size for the three most widely used cannabinoid pharmaceuticals – Epidiolex, Sativex and dronabinol – to be worth just under €900 million as of 2021, growing to €1.8 billion by 2025.
Epidolex is currently the leading cannabinoid pharmaceutical, garnering over €430 million in sales in 2020 and serving an estimated population of more than 20,000.
The firm behind the drug, GW Pharmaceuticals, was acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals earlier this year in a deal worth over €5 billion.
The Pharmaceutical Cannabis Report: 2nd Edition report identifies at least 30 late-stage clinical trials using cannabinoids therapeutics, any of which could have a large impact on the medical cannabis space.
It is thought that around 250 clinical trials using compounds that target the ECS are carried out each year. There is plenty of room for growth in these figures considering the central metabolic role played by the ECS.
The potential for the use of medical cannabinoids in the pharmaceutical space has barely been scratched.
In the medium-to-long term, the report suggests that a range of new cannabinoid therapeutics will be approved across the globe.
Operators in the space can expect to see these products take up market share at the expense of unapproved flower and oils in the next decade.
Barbara Pastori, director of strategy and data at Prohibition Partners, commented: “The goal of establishing oneself in the medical cannabis space is very much a moving target. The balance of approved and unapproved products is constantly shifting, and new innovations in the highly medicalised sector of cannabis promise to upend some of the current status quo in the industry. As such, Prohibition Partners offers this report along with our consulting services to anyone seeking to understand where they fit in this rapidly evolving industry. We provide industry-leading insights and strategic advice to anyone seeking to establish or develop their position in the value chain.”
Conor O’Brien, author of the report and analyst at Prohibition Partners added: “Many operators in the medical cannabis space are blind to the risks and opportunities arising from cutting edge developments in clinical trials of cannabinoid medicines, the synthetic cannabinoid space, and the innovations in delivery formats and devices. This report details the state of play for medical cannabis technologies and treatments which will inevitably occupy a large share of the medical cannabis market moving forward, with implications for all patients, regulators and operators in the space.”
For more information, The Pharmaceutical Cannabis Report: 2nd Edition summary can be downloaded here.
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