Danish pharmaceutical company Stenocare says it is exploring opportunities to expand its medical cannabis platform into the Canadian market.
The company, founded in 2017, manufactures cannabis oil for the Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, German, British, and Australian markets.
Although light on details, in a press release, the company says it is currently working with “a network of expert partners from the Canadian cannabis industry” and exploring different models and sales channels, with a goal of signing a commercial agreement to bring it’s “Astrum” cannabis oil to Canada in Q3 or Q4 2024.
Those Canadian partners, continues the press release, have experience with patient support and onboarding programs, navigating insurance claims for medical cannabis reimbursements, and developing and managing what it calls “disease-specific treatment plans.”
Stenocare says that its Astrum cannabis oil uses a specific oil technology that significantly “improves the bioavailability in the patient’s blood” to help better secure consistent uptake of the active ingredients into the bloodstream compared to more ubiquitous MCT-based cannabis oils. The oil was developed in partnership with a Danish pharma company.
The company says it has completed a pharmacokinetic study in dogs that documented two parameters in the lymphatic system that can improve the treatment effect. According to that study, Stenocare’s own cannabis oil formulation improves uptake in the blood and decreases onset time from several hours to just one hour.
“We see Canada as an interesting opportunity for Stenocare and our innovative patented Astrum oil product,” says Thomas Skovlund Schnegelsberg, CEO of Stenocare. “The Canadian market has had limited innovation within the medical cannabis space, and Stenocare has the potential to attract users that are in search of higher bioavailability with the product. With our local network of industry experts, we are currently exploring several interesting avenues for our entry into the Canadian market. We hope to enter into a commercial agreement with a local sales channel during 2H 2024”.
In November 2021, Stenocare announced a supply agreement with Canadian cannabis producer AgMedica Bioscience Inc. In 2022, Stenocare and AgMedica also announced they were the first supplier of oil-based medical cannabis products in Norway “with a portfolio of three full spectrum medical cannabis oil products from the GMP certified Canadian supplier, AgMedica Bioscience.” AgMedica also sells under the Vertical Cannabis brand in Canada.
Stenocare is a publicly traded company. The company reported a CAD$3.5 million loss for the year in 2023. In 2019, the company had to terminate an agreement with CannTrust following the latter’s licence suspension.
Registrations under Canada’s Cannabis for Medical Purposes Access program continue to decline in the wake of legalization, with about 5,000 fewer medical clients registrations and 1,200 fewer registrations for personal and designated cultivation from the previous year. Registrations have been declining month over month since a peak in late 2020.
