The Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, presented the new registry for the controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes, which will have a “more dynamic and intuitive” selection of profiles and will facilitate the registration process and the monitoring of procedures by users. and professionals,” reported the health ministry.
The presentation was made within the framework of the Medical Cannabis Advisory Council, where the proposal to incorporate non-governmental organizations into the Cannabis Program Registry (Reprocann) was also analyzed.
The creation of the category of cannabis-based plant products for medicinal use and application was also reported.
The new system will streamline processes to provide timely assistance and improve accessibility to the site. The previous one does not admit more registrations and will be enabled only for the download of approved certificates, and so that patients who have their credential valid do not have to register again.
Health professionals who wish to maintain their registration and continue linking people in treatment must register again. Also all the users who could not complete the procedure on the previous platform.
During the meeting, a proposal was presented from the national health portfolio for the incorporation of NGOs to the registry, which is open to changes and recommendations suggested by the organizations.
Then, the head of the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology (Anmat), Manuel Limeres, explained details about the new category of “Vegetable products based on cannabis and its derivatives intended for use and application in human medicine”
“We are so anxious to continue advancing, but it is also important to look back, two years ago it was unthinkable to be sitting here now and all this work was done in a pandemic, so it is important to value the work of the program and of Anmat and of this table”, underlined Vizzotti.
The process of updating the registry arose from a ministerial decision, through the Medicinal Cannabis Program and an agreement with the Honorary Advisory Council, which brings together members of civil society organizations in the country, representatives of state agencies and health authorities.
Vizzotti made the first delivery of medical cannabis oil to Posadas Hospital
The Minister of Health made the first delivery of cannabis-based formulations to patients with epilepsy at the Posadas Hospital, in compliance with current legislation, according to the ministry’s official report.
The 35-milliliter bottles of oral solution that make up this first delivery will be distributed to meet the demands of the coming months for 21 patients who treat their conditions in the hospital, “marking a clear advance regarding access to therapeutics with cannabinoids,” they detailed. from the ministry.
“This is one more step to promote access to rights and quality medication for refractory epilepsy for those who have exclusive public coverage in Argentina,” Vizzotti explained, adding that “with the work of the Ministry of Health and the Cannabis Program, this medication It is already distributed in four Argentine provinces and in the Garrahan Hospital”.
On behalf of the 21 recipients, the authorities delivered the medication to the family of one of the children who will receive the treatment.
In this regard, the executive director of the hospital, Adrián Tarditti, stated: “Tiago, 6 years old, has refractory epilepsy and through cannabis syrup he has the possibility of a therapeutic alternative that can benefit him”, and valued that “from the law and the joint work between all the teams today will be able to have access to this treatment”.
In this sense, the minister recalled that “a little over two years ago, the regulation of the law not only prevented access, but also persecuted those who had a really important need”, and stressed that, despite the challenges that implied by the pandemic, the portfolio he directs managed to “regulate the law again, make a paradigm shift in what it means not to persecute, generate more data, investigate, generate the possibility of self-cultivation, the Reprocann, and also expand access through of Remediar to the hospitals that need it”.
The minister made this first delivery within the framework of the implementation of Law 27,350 on Medical and Scientific Research of the Medicinal Use of the Cannabis plant and its derivatives.
According to the provisions of this law and its regulatory decree 883/2020, article 7 stipulates the acquisition of cannabis-based medicines made in the country for free access for patients with exclusive public coverage by the National Program for Study and Research of the Medicinal Use of the Cannabis Plant and its Derivatives and Unconventional Treatments.
The coordinator of the program, Marcelo Morante, stressed that “a virtuous circle of a need and a social claim and a response from the State of quality is closed, with trained doctors and with products that meet the standards required by this pathology, which is drug-resistant epilepsy”, and added that “it is a great step to contribute to the quality of life of these families”.
This Health portfolio initiative “guarantees for the first time hospital access to highly concentrated, purified, pharmaceutical-grade cannabis oil for the treatment of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, with seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, Dravet syndrome and in epilepsy related to Tuberous Sclerosis,” they concluded in the statement.
Also present at the delivery were the Secretary for Quality in Health, Alejandro Collia; the undersecretary of Medicines and Strategic Information, Natalia Grinblat; and Gisela Soler, in charge of the Department of Essential Medicines, supplies and health technology.
