CDB arrives at SUS in May – 03/08/2024 – Cannabis Inc.

More than a year after the sanction of the São Paulo state law on the supply of Cannabis medicinal product in the Unified Health System (SUS), the State Department of Health finally sets a deadline for making Cannabidiol extract (CBD, a substance derived from the plant) available on the public network. The medicine long awaited by thousands of patients is expected to arrive in May. The commitment was reached with deputy Caio França (PSB), author of law 17.618/23, during a meeting with the Cannabidiol Working Group, formed last year.

The commission is made up of representatives of medical associations, members of councils, faculties and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, among others, to provide input both in regulating the law and in the protocol for handling the Cannabis for doctors – a kind of manual, which until this week was under review at the Secretariat. And without it, the distribution process comes to a standstill.

Ease Labs Pharma, the Minas Gerais company that won the tender held by the government last year, has the first batch of CBD ready, awaiting the green light for delivery. “The availability of the medicine in the SUS means savings of six times to the public coffers”, says the company’s CEO Gustavo de Lima Palhares. Currently, the State pays for treatment only in cases of judicialization. And when this happens, the C extractannabis it costs over the counter at the pharmacy. Ease Labs won the bid by charging R$0.45 per milligram.

The consolidation of the law is a major advance not only for São Paulo residents, but for all states and municipalities, which now have a model to follow. “We are innovating on several fronts. This is just the beginning of our work”, says deputy Caio França. The good news is that patients with prescriptions signed by public and private doctors will have access to the SUS CBD. But the treatment will only be indicated in cases of rare diseases, such as Dravet Syndrome (a type of severe epilepsy), Lennox-Gastaut (epileptic encephalopathy) and Tuberous Sclerosis (which triggers non-cancerous tumors). It is essential, however, that the patient has a fixed address in São Paulo to be entitled to the medication.

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