Distribution company Cannabis Warehouse Australia has formed a partnership with medicine management platform Strongroom AI, with both parties aiming to reduce the compliance and administrative strain that pharmacists face.
The two companies will work together to automate and standardise back-office tasks, with Strongroom drawing on Cannabis Warehouse Australia's deep familiarity with the medicinal cannabis sector to deliver more efficient services across the industry.
Strongroom is a drug management technology platform that, among other functions, allows pharmacies to record all schedule 8 medicines they hold and dispense — a legal requirement that includes medicinal cannabis products.
The platform is compliant with the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
In return for access to Cannabis Warehouse's industry knowledge, Strongroom will host pharmacy-focused educational and informational content produced by the distributor.
One of the key challenges facing the tech company is the inconsistency and frequent changes to product names, compounded by the large volume of new cannabis medications entering the market.
These variations have made it difficult for Strongroom to keep up, creating the risk that pharmacy customers may be unable to find and log certain products within the software.
Cannabis Warehouse chief operating officer Eric Chan said providing Strongroom with accurate, current product information is one of several ways the distributor can support the tech firm.
"We have a background in distribution and have relationships with brands, sponsors, pharmacists and doctors so we have a broad picture of the medicinal cannabis market," he said.
"We will be sharing all our knowledge, understanding and connections with Strongroom so they can optimise their systems and make automation as fast and efficient as possible for pharmacies."
Other potential projects include automating the process by which pharmacists confirm delivery of S8 medicines, a step that is required by law. In NSW, pharmacists are currently required to do this by post, Chan said.
He said in an interview that a common reason pharmacies are reluctant to handle and dispense medicinal cannabis is the administrative and compliance load it places on staff.
Automating and simplifying those tasks would free up time that could instead be spent with patients, he said.
"We know that pharmacies, particularly community ones, are sometimes unwilling to go into medicinal cannabis because of all the added effort in dispensing S8 medicines, especially medicinal cannabis where the general public require support.
"Our belief is that if we automate these manual processes and increase efficiencies they will use that time to spend with patients, which is what they want to do.
"We believe pharmacies have a key role to play in the future of medicinal cannabis."
On the educational content to be published through Strongroom, Chan noted that pharmacists are stretched for time and "unlikely to go looking for extended education".
He added: "Therefore, Strongroom and Cannabis Warehouse are not only working on process and system optimisation, but aiming to maximise the high-level engagement pharmacies have with the Strongroom platform to provide better education and hopefully inspire curiosity to learn more."
