As the government plans to allow the cultivation and import of cannabis-based drugs in Korea soon, Korean bio-companies are actively moving to preoccupy the related market.

Pharmaceutical companies are announcing their intention to enter the medical cannabis market as the government plans to ease regulations.
Pharmaceutical companies are announcing their intention to enter the medical cannabis market as the government plans to ease regulations.

Under the Narcotics Control Act, cannabis-based drugs currently can only be used for official and academic purposes in Korea. Also, patients with rare and incurable diseases can only purchase cannabis-based medicines at the Korea Orphan & Essential Drug Center (KODC).

However, according to the “100 Food and Drug Regulatory Innovation Tasks” announced by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Aug. 11, the ministry plans to permit the production and import of cannabis-based drugs as early as 2024, to guarantee the right to treat rare and incurable diseases.

The ministry also plans to expand the therapeutic use of overseas clinical trial drugs containing cannabis, and will allow people to carry cannabis-based medicines for self-treatment to enter or leave the country.

As the government aims to ease regulations soon, companies have recently announced their plans to develop cannabis-related drugs.

Most recently, Yuhan Care and Inventage Lab announced on Wednesday that the two companies plan to develop and commercialize a long-acting injectable drug using a medical cannabis treatment candidate.

Under the accord, Inventage Lab will provide its IVL-DrugFluidic, a long-acting injection development, and manufacturing platform technology, to a medical cannabis candidate (YC-2104) owned by Yuhan Care.

However, the two companies did not disclose which treatment area they will focus on.

Wooree Bio is developing medical cannabis at its smart farm in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. The company is currently trying to minimize the cultivation cost and increase the cannabidiol (CBD) component by introducing a dedicated lighting system that promotes the production of hemp.

The company is developing a technology to extract and refine high-purity hemp-based pharmaceutical ingredients by 2024.

Hwail Pharmaceutical is also accelerating its medical marijuana business.

In April last year, the company acquired a 49.15 percent stake in Cannabis Medical, which holds patents related to using medical cannabis for treating degenerative brain diseases.

Hwail has also made an equity investment in CTC Bio, which succeeded in making medical cannabis into a film-type formulation.

HLB Life Sciences signed a business agreement with Neocann Bio in April to jointly develop medical marijuana-based drugs.

The company has a platform technology that extracts and processes high-purity hemp components through its patented microwave processing technology.

HLB Life Sciences plans to develop treatments for cancer, epilepsy, and dementia by receiving an exclusive supply of cannabis extract from Neocann Bio.

Medicox decided to invest in Green Farmers, an Australian company specializing in cannabis cultivation, in August.

The investment follows Medicox signing an exclusive contract to import hemp raw materials with Green Farmers in June to expand its medical cannabis business infrastructure.

However, an analyst pointed out that it will be difficult for companies to aggressively invest in the medical cannabis market for the time being as the timing and scope of legalization of medical cannabis cannot be predicted yet.

“In foreign countries, CBD substances are used in various fields such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and health functional foods,” an industry watcher said to Korea Biomedical Review. “However, details of the government’s plans for deregulating the sector have not been announced.”

If detailed guidelines from the government come out soon, companies will be able to move more quickly.

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