Two years on from the legalisation of medical cannabis in Ukraine, patients have received the first legal prescriptions for cannabis-based medicines.
On Thursday, 11 June, the first medical cannabis products were prescribed by neurologists at the Vinnytsia Regional Clinical Psychoneurological Hospital to Lyudmila Monastyrska, a patient with multiple sclerosis, and Yaroslav Yurchuk, a veteran who lost his leg a year ago while fighting in the Pokrovsk area.
On 16 August 2024, Ukrainian politicians enacted a new legal framework for medical cannabis, allowing for the cultivation, processing, and distribution of medical cannabis under strict licensing and quota regulations, focusing on medical, research, and educational purposes.
The Ministry of Health has previously estimated that approximately six million citizens may be eligible for treatment with cannabis-based medicines.
Certain formats can be prescribed by primary care doctors and specialised care physicians, and can be obtained through selected pharmacies, for the following conditions:
- Chronic or neuropathic pain and/or spasticity
- Nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy during the treatment of neoplasms
- Parkinson’s disease
- Combined vocal tic with multiple motor tics (de la Tourette syndrome)
- Refractory (pharmacoresistant) epilepsy
- Diseases that cause seizures in childhood, such as Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, Dravet syndrome (G40.4), tuberous sclerosis
- Weight loss is associated with anorexia in patients with diseases caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
Currently, only ‘liquid medicinal products for oral use – oral drops (oral solutions, emulsions, suspensions), hard capsules, paste for use in the oral cavity, gel for use in the oral cavity’, are approved for prescription.
According to local doctors, the first patients were prescribed a THC-based medication in the form of hard capsules.
An important milestone
It has taken almost two years for the regulatory processes to be finalised, with the country still facing Russian attacks following its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Gennadii Shabas, Head of the Ukrainian Medical Cannabis Association, commented: ““For over eight years now, since 2018, the Ukrainian Medical Cannabis Association, led by Hennadiі Shabas, has been working consistently with patient organisations to advance this field. We are finally seeing the results of this work — the first patient in Ukraine receiving medical cannabis-based medication.”
Shabas continued: “It has been a long and difficult journey, but there is still much work ahead. The next important step is the development of Ukrainian production and cultivation of medical cannabis. The first production facilities in Ukraine are already under construction, and this gives us reason to speak confidently about the industry’s future development.”
According to Lisa Fomenko, co-founder of Complant Consulting, which has been working with regulators and manufacturers to establish a secure supply chain of medical cannabis in Ukraine, domestic production could be underway before 2028.
“The establishment of Ukraine’s first fully functional medical cannabis supply chain is an important milestone,” Fomenko said.
“We strongly believe that informed access to medical cannabis, based on scientifically proven clinical evidence, will facilitate harm reduction and promote health awareness when it comes to legal medical cannabis use.”
Her co-founder, Oleksandr Alba, added that the focus should now be on implementing education programmes to ensure these medicines are accessible to patients in a safe way.
“Access to safe, traceable and quality-controlled medical cannabis requires a coordinated pharmaceutical pathway, and safe distribution of medical cannabis starts with education,” Alba told Cannabis Health.
“Establishing medical cannabis educational programs for physicians, pharmacists, and medical educators is essential to maximise the benefits of medical cannabis legalisation in Ukrainian communities.”
