Medicinal cannabis in Germany - Business Report

137 Confidential __________________________________________________________________________________ The majority of the non-specialist Cannabis pharmacies do not keep any of the above substances in stock in the pharmacy, as they are only ordered when the prescription is presented. Larger pharmacies with many Cannabis patients have flowers and Dronabinol in stock and sometimes Cannabidiol and Cannabis extracts are also kept in stock. Oils and teas are not stocked. Ordering on stock is especially problematic for the flowers, because they are often not available. In addition, the expiry date is quite close, about 2 to 6 months, which is an additional risk for the phar- macist. Because almost all flowers are ordered directly and not delivered through wholesalers, a return is hardly possible, which increases the risk for the pharmacist even more. Large "Cannabis pharmacies" with a guaranteed number of Cannabis prescribers in the vicinity and a larger patient base order Cannabis flowers in five-figure euro amounts in stock. On average, pharmacies serve 4 to 5 SHI prescriptions per week and 0.5 to 1 private prescriptions per week. Only in absolute Cannabis-main pharmacies more prescriptions arise. Private prescriptions are often the first prescription as well as the second follow-up prescription for SHI patients until the approval of the health insurance company to cover the costs is granted. ▪ Most pharmacies had only occasional supply problems, especially with Cannabis flowers. ▪ In this respect, Canadian suppliers in particular were negatively affected, as often the corresponding Cannabis flowers were either unavailable or available but with a short ex- piry period of one to three months. ▪ Cannabis flowers from the Netherlands - Bedrocan® - were mostly available without problems. ▪ The classic office-pharmacy with only a few Cannabis patients does not keep any Canna- bis flowers in stock, but orders only after receipt of a prescription. ▪ The situation is different in Cannabis-focused pharmacies, as these often order larger quantities of Cannabis flowers in stock. ▪ Cannamedical, Fagron, Klenk, Pedanios, Spektrum, Bionorika and Tilray were clearly posi- tively perceived by the pharmacists. ▪ As the only company with rather negative experiences, Pohl-Boskamp was mentioned several times. ▪ Negative telephone calls or complicated ordering procedures with the importers/produc- ers concerned were often cited as reasons for the annoyance .