Business View Magazine | February 2020

145 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2020 align all these different government agencies to be able to have a finished product in here. There is health and safety with extraction; fire regulations; all the security around the Cannabis Act to prevent diversion and sabotage of products by employees - so many regulations. We’re dealing with workers’ health and safety now, with a narcotic product, so everybody needs to be trained in first-aid procedures. There are chemicals onsite and every single person, even in the accounting department, has to know the safety sheets for isopropyl alcohol, for example, and how to administer first aid if someone gets exposed to it. For a small staff, that pretty much sums up what they’ve had to go through over the last year.” The company did a lot of research and consultation in the U.S. before finally finding a suitable partner in Florida. And that’s what they’re doing now in Canada. Renwick admits, “We’re looking for a partner that will give us a scenario of 100,000 patients who are taking one tablet a day. A lot of people want to do that but we have to be convinced. We’re being very pragmatic when it comes to licensing for Canada because the market’s pretty regulated here and once you tie up with somebody, you’re basically married. We want someone with the right reputation; with the focus on keeping it medicinal and making a medical claim.” Making a medical claim on the product is a priority, moving forward; being able to prove that claim, so that doctors who are uncertain can read the data that’s been generated by the company or by third parties and comfortably say, “I’m going to prescribe this product for an analgesic and it’s going to be safe and efficacious for my patients.” The only way doctors can do that is if the company goes through a clinical study and is approved by Health Canada as a true GMP operation. “There is additional licensing required,” says Renwick. “To make a medical claim, you really have to become a pharma facility. And then you need approval by CANNTAB THERAPEUT I CS