The reach of medical cannabis just got longer in Colombia as one company’s products now qualify for insurance coverage.
Khiron Life Sciences Corp (Khiron), a cannabis company with core operations in Latin America and Europe, today announced that its medical cannabis products and clinical services are now covered under Colombia’s major health insurance providers.
The company revealed in September that its medical cannabis prescriptions in Colombia had surpassed 3,000.
Today’s announcement comes as a result of Khiron’s National Strategic Project status, a directive from the Colombian government, and strong clinical evidence.
Over 94 percent of Colombians have health insurance and more than 1,000 prescriptions that Khiron issued over the last quarter already qualify for coverage.
Khiron says that insurance coverage removes economic barriers and increases patient access to the company’s medical cannabis products and services.
“We see the inclusion of our products and services under health insurance policies as a significant driver of revenue opportunities for Khiron in Colombia, and a validation of our clinic model and the potential for market growth in the country,” says Khiron CEO Alvaro Torres. “Importantly, this will allow more Colombians access to benefit from our medical cannabis products and clinic resources.”
According to Torres, since Khiron became the first company to fill prescriptions in Colombia, 92 percent of their patients have reported improvements in their primary conditions after four months of treatment with Khiron products.
Torres says that the company is eager to help even more patients now that they can access medical cannabis through insurance.
Now that medical cannabis products qualify for insurance coverage in Colombia, the country joins other countries such as Germany, where revisions to laws in 2017 required health insurers to cover prescription costs, except in certain circumstances.
According to Prohibition Partners, Germany’s estimated 120,000 medical cannabis patients bought more than €75 million worth of medical cannabis products in the first half of 2020.
The Czech Republic recently extended health insurance coverage to include medical cannabis, resulting in a threefold increase in sales for the first four months of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019.
In the Colombian program, insurance companies and the government authorize Khiron to fill prescriptions for magistral preparations, for which the company receives reimbursement when patients receive the medicine.
Khiron says that prescription coverage will allow a greater number of Colombian patients to access their medical cannabis products and services.
According to Khiron, the company’s clinic strategy will continue to provide cost-effective access to patients, allow the company to collect medical evidence, and deliver a wholly positive patient-physician experience.
Khiron says it is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the insurance policy change in Colombia due to the company’s large patient base and growing network of medical cannabis-trained physicians.
