Cannabis producers MMJ make seven figure investment in online access portal for medicinal cannabis

Listed cannabis producer MMJ PhytoTech Limited (ASX: MMJ) has invested $1 million in Cannabis Access to make it easier for patients to receive cannabis-based medicines.

MMJ invested $1 million for a 16.7 per cent ownership stake in Biologics Research Institute Australia, the owner of Cannabis Access, a leading online portal for medicinal cannabis access in Australia.

The Cannabis Access portal simplifies the process for Australian doctors to find the best type of medicinal cannabis for their patients within the current regulatory framework.

In addition to acting as a source of valuable research to assist doctors, the Cannabis Access portal provides a seamless end-to-end process for accessing and prescribing medicinal cannabis. The portal prepopulates the forms necessary for doctors to obtain Therapeutic Goods Administration approvals, speeding up the often arduous process.

So far, 500 Australian doctors and pharmacists have signed up to the online portal.

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Cannabis Access executive chairman, Giles Craig, says the investment by MMJ is a huge endorsement for the work being done by the company.

"This investment is an endorsement of our strategy and provides us with the capital needed to accelerate our programme," says Craig.

Craig says the market of patients looking for legal medicinal cannabis is as large as 500,000, but patients aren't able to obtain it through the correct route.

"Currently, there are only 500 patients who are legally using medical cannabis in Australia at a time when we understand up to 100,000 patients are accessing it through other means," says Craig.

"We are working on a number of exciting initiatives targeting this large addressable market and will announce these as they come to fruition."

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Business News Australia