[source: Kanabo]
Last month, Kanabo Group (KNB ) told investors that its plans to expand patient access to medicinal cannabis in the UK were coming into fruition with the £13.5m acquisition of The GP Service, a private primary care telemedicine provider which uses an online-based consultation platform.
The Israeli-based medicinal cannabis company said it expects the acquisition to facilitate the ‘rapid growth’ of its existing digital and telemedicine business while also establishing ‘a new and fully compliant channel’ to market for the business’ products for medical patients.’
‘Through improved access to these products, Kanabo Group hopes to make a substantial contribution to improving outcomes for thousands of patients in the UK and Europe,’ it said.
In a recent interview, CEO and Founder of Kanabo Group, Avihu Tamir, expanded on the company’s plans to transform the UK’s medical cannabis industry through telehealth.
“I think that people don’t appreciate the value in the last mile – the relationship with patients,” said Tamir. “In the UK, it’s different to the rest of the world – they still see cannabis as an old industry where you’re growing, cultivating something, processing and just selling. They’re missing the point that this is an industry where the majority of the value is going to be, by far, in the last mile – the retail side, the branding of the product, the relationship with the patients.”
Tamir acknowledged that like any other industry, cannabis is going online: “And that’s even without understanding the pain of safe access and prices of medical cannabis,” he stated.
Speaking of his plans to leverage the GP Service to transform the industry he said: “I think that with the GP service, we can solve the big problems and really create a solution that will be affordable, will be quick and will be less painful. We will really leverage the capability to educate both physicians and patients and through a very convenient platform of video calls.”
Tamir believes the stigma of cannabis is no more challenging in the UK than elsewhere: “the challenge is that physicians worry for their insurance by prescribing something that the NHS is not signing on. So, surprisingly, it is not the stigma on cannabis holding things back,” he said.
He added: “The move is a new avenue for the medical cannabis industry, but it is also a new market entry for Kanabo – which will see it entering the multi-billion pound telehealth market.”
Kanabo Group’s acquisition of the Telehealth GP Service is aiming to take this hassle out of prescribing cannabis to patients – bringing down prices and increasing access for patients.
The GP Service, which offers the services of online doctors to help diagnose and treat common conditions using its internet-based consultation platform, is already an approved provider on the UK’s NHS digital framework for video and on-line medical consultations.
The system allows patients to consult with qualified doctors via online assessment questionnaires and through secure video chat. As part of the process, doctors are able to provide prescriptions, as well as write referral letters for hospital care, and fit notes.
Patients can, for a set price of £39.99, get an appointment with a UK registered GP within half an hour and then get a prescription sent to one of 4,200 pharmacies within an hour for £7.49.
Kanabo said the service is able to electronically deliver prescriptions to this network of 4,200 pharmacies which includes major high street chains as well as independent pharmacies.
Kanabo intends to develop a platform to become one of Europe’s first digitally led and legally compliant providers for its products and wellness CBD services following regulatory approval.
You can find Kanabo’s full interview with Cannabis Wealth here.
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