What doctors don't see in medical cannabis: quality, advertising, and industry backstage

Episode 50 of Deusa Cast brought together experts to discuss two essential pillars for the development of the medical cannabis industry in Brazil: product quality and advertising limits in the sector. Ricardo Pettená, CEO of Carmen's Medicinals; Margareth Akemi, professor and researcher at Mackenzie and coordinator of the Cannabis Committee of the Regional Pharmacy Council of São Paulo; Leonardo Navarro, lawyer and legal director of ICR; and Fabio Furtado, CEO of Green Care, participated.

Ricardo Pettená emphasized the responsibility of doctors in the face of market growth and the increasing number of suppliers. “Doctors have the opportunity and responsibility to choose appropriately. The problem arises when we have so many suppliers and the doctor is ‘bombarded’. I know the doctor's life is not easy, but he needs to learn to separate the wheat from the chaff.”
Pettená reinforced that the professional cannot prescribe without knowing the company's care. “The doctor cannot prescribe a product without knowing the level of care the company has with the products [...] Doctors need to understand this difference between companies.”

Communication in the sector was also highlighted as fundamental. Margareth Akemi stressed the importance of correctly guiding professionals and patients. “It is necessary to educate the doctor and the patient.” She pointed out the poor communication in the cannabis market and reminded that the company needs to offer both quality products and information.
“If the Brazilian population cannot differentiate between Bayer aspirin, dipyrone, or acetylsalicylic acid, imagine in the cannabis market if they think any little plant will do and serve for anything!”

The regulation of advertising was detailed by Leonardo Navarro, who explained the legal limits according to Anvisa's Ordinance 344. “There are many medicines you can buy without a prescription. You go to the pharmacy and buy them. For these medicines, I can have billboards, leaflets in the pharmacy for the patient... But when we enter the products regulated by Anvisa's Ordinance 344, the noose tightens. The company has nowhere to run. We only have one form of communication, which is communication to the doctor; technical communication to the prescribing doctor and to the dispenser, who is the pharmacist. Apart from that, I am breaking the rules.”

Fabio Furtado explained that ensuring quality involves broad and consistent processes. “Quality assurance is broader: it is ensuring that, from the product's conception — such as the bottle, product stability, photostability — everything used to develop the product. And by building a dossier of everything used to make the product, that this is replicated in each batch, in a standard, forever. And every time the patient receives the product, it is identical to what was received in the first batch.”

Furtado also mentioned cultivation, extraction, logistics, temperature study, and stress control as stages that need to be ensured by companies.

Topics such as traceability, supplier qualification, and correct patient treatment adherence were pointed out as fundamental for the sector's development.

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