French ANSM temporary scientific committee pursues activities on modalities of medical cannabis availability

On 15 May 2019, the French Temporary Specialised Scientific Committee (CSST) met to continue its work on the modalities of making cannabis for therapeutic purposes available during the initial experimental phase. The CSST was created in September 2018 for one year by the French National Agency of Medicine and Health Products Safety (ANSM) to assess the pertinence and feasibility of permitting therapeutic cannabis in France.

The ANSM endorsed the CSST's first conclusions and supported the use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes in certain medical indications (see our previous blog post: "French ANSM recommends medical use of cannabis under certain conditions"):

• For treatment of refractory pain that cannot be treated with available medicines.
• For treatment of certain severe forms of epilepsy.
• As part of supportive care in oncology
• In palliative situations
• For painful spasticity related to multiple sclerosis.

The CSST met with the objective of collecting information gained from experiences of countries and operators that have already authorised the use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes. The CSST took evidence from economic actors operating in the foreign production chain field from Canada, Colombia, the US and the Netherlands. The focus of the meeting was on the forms and dosages available abroad and on the cost of the different treatments.

After having considered foreign experiences, the next session, to be held on 26 June 2019, will focus in particular on the national (French) perspectives on cultivation and supply. At the end of this session, the CSST will submit its opinion to the ANSM on the proposed modalities for making medical cannabis available as part of the experimental phase that has been proposed to be implemented.

The filmed sessions of the meeting are available on the ANSM's webpage.

This article was co-authored by Alexis Vaujany. 

A prior version of this post was originally published by the same author in Practical Law – Life Sciences, May 2019 Issue (Thomson Reuters).