Australian medicinal cannabis distributor Novachem, best known for bringing Bedrocan's products to market locally, is widening its commercial offering to serve other product sponsors in what the company says is a direct response to supply chain bottlenecks slowing patient access.
Over the past six years, Novachem has sponsored and distributed Bedrocan's range of medications and, more recently, introduced metered-dose inhaler SyqeAir to the Australian market.
The company is now extending those capabilities to external sponsors beyond its existing portfolio.
"The industry has grown and the feedback we are getting from many participants is that the distribution of products to pharmacies and the compliance requirements are creating bottlenecks for products to get into market," Novachem business development manager Andrew Heath said. "That impacts the effective delivery of products to patients."
Heath said Novachem, which has partnered with pharmacy ordering platform Directo to support the expanded offering, first entered the medicinal cannabis space at a time when patients had very limited access to products.
The challenge now, he said, is getting those products into patients' hands without delay.
"We got into the distribution of medicinal cannabis and sponsoring because we wanted to make products available to patients. That has always been our motivation," Heath said.
"When we started the problem was that patients couldn't get access to anything. The issue now is getting products to market effectively, so it's some of the same issues we are trying to solve.
"We want to make sure products get from point A to point B in a compliant, reliable and speedy way and we now have a lot more rigour, process and experience in achieving that."
The services will be available on a non-exclusive basis, with Heath emphasising that pricing will be "cost competitive".
All products will be dispatched from Novachem's warehouse in Victoria.
