Pharmaceutical

Global cannabinoid pharmaceuticals market to reach £1.53bn by 2025

The global cannabinoid pharmaceuticals market has been projected to reach £1.53bn (€1.8bn).

Global cannabinoid pharmaceuticals market to reach £1.53bn by 2025

A new report from Research and Markets has projected growth from €900m in 2021 to €1.8bn by 2025.

Research And Markets has estimated the market size for the three most widely used cannabinoid pharmaceuticals – Epidiolex, Sativex and dronabinol. It notes that the figures have room for growth as and when a new cannabinoid therapeutic is approved, or existing medicines become used in new conditions or regions.

Highlighting Epidiolex as the poster child for a successful cannabinoid pharmaceutical after reaching more than €430m in sales in 2020 and serving an estimated patient population of more than 20,000, Markets and Research says that the story of Epidiolex producers GW Pharmaceuticals outlines the challenges and opportunities of operating in the pharmaceutical cannabis space. The company took over 20 years to generate considerable sales and faced setbacks in clinical trials. Despite this, the company was recently acquired by Jazz Pharmaceutical for more than €6bn after seeing a rapid growth in sales.

Innovation is highlighted as a driving factor in the market – with companies bringing out products with new routes of administration such as metered inhalers and transdermal products which are going through the approval process.

Research and development on minor cannabinoids such as CBG and CBC is also a driving factor, according to the report, and the market for synthetic cannabinoids is now beginning to gain some maturity. Chemosynthetic products are already on the market and several firms are producing commercial amounts of THC and CBD through biosynthetic processes.

The report highlights that overall, the total potential for the use of medical cannabinoids in the pharmaceutical space has barely been scratched and that in the medium to long term, it expects to see the development of a range of new cannabinoid therapeutics approved across the globe. 

It continued to note that operators in the space can expect to see cannabinoid pharmaceutical products gradually taking up more of the market share at the expense of unapproved flower and full-spectrum oils over the next 10 years, coinciding with the liberalisation of adult-use cannabis across North America and Europe which will further distill the use of medical products from flower to more precise formulations.

To read the full report please visit: www.researchandmarkets.com

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Topicscannabinoidscannabis industrymarketsmedical cannabis

Stephanie Price

Stephanie is a journalist for Business of Cannabis, writing about science, research, policy and industry developments in cannabis, CBD and psychedelics. In 2013 Stephanie gained her BA in English and Media, focusing on journalism and propaganda, where her magazine 'Game Theory' focused on developments and disruptors over the coming decade including cannabis, psychedelics, blockchain/crypto and free speech. In 2015 Stephanie received her National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) diploma whilst working as a reporter in North Wales. Stephanie has a specialism in Medical Cannabis: The Health Effects of THC and CBD through the University of Colorado, and a certificate from the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society on "Medical Cannabis Explained".

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