Cannabis and science at the observatory again this year. The general partner is Zenplanto

Czech experts were successful at the leading conference focused on the European cannabis market, Cannabis Business Europe 2024. Presentation leader Václav Trojan from the St. Anne’s University Hospital (FNUSA) and experts from the Zenplanto medical cannabis cultivation facility impressed the audience with their contribution on in vitro cultivation techniques in a clean laboratory environment.

Medical cannabis is becoming a classic pharmaceutical product and therefore it is necessary to maintain strict standards and ensure its constant availability. The days when the cultivation of medicinal cannabis was seen as a purely plant-based production are long gone. However, the experience of the market is that no grower is currently able to consistently supply cannabis (cannabis flowers) with a guaranteed and standardised content of active substances.

In vitro yields standardised harvests

Thanks to the in vitro technique, plants can be grown completely free of viruses, fungi and other contaminations. At the same time, it allows standardised values to be achieved for each plant and harvest. “In cases where the genetics are not tested at the beginning of cultivation, it can happen that the virus breaks out after several harvests and you lose the whole line,” said Dr Václav Trojan, one of the leading pioneers in medical cannabis research, about the risks of traditional cultivation. ” The in vitro technique solves these problems and ensures high quality and standardised products at every harvest,” he adds. And it is in medicinal production that standardisation is key.

“In the German market, for example, there was a great demand for varieties with 30% THC content for pain management. But none of the growers were able to guarantee such a value. In practice, this means that the attending physician adjusts the patient’s dose and clear standardisation is missing in the process,” says Aleš Hrabák, a pharmaceutical expert and one of the founders of the medical cannabis cultivation company Zenplanto.

First study yields results

Experts agree that large-scale clinical trials demonstrating the benefits of medicinal cannabis will be essential for its wider dissemination. “Thomas Skovlund, CEO of STENOCARE A/S, presented the first data from Denmark at the conference. Already these show that cannabis treatment can reduce medical expenses by 14% compared to standard treatment,” shared an interesting fact from the conference, Ales Hrabak.

The Frankfurt conference also focused on the development of the German market. After a recent change in legislation, the complications with the handling and distribution of cannabis as a narcotic substance have been removed. Another interesting topic was the situation in France, where after a two-year pilot programme for 2,000 patients, medical cannabis will be fully legalised from January 2025. By contrast, in Denmark, where only extracts are allowed, the market is growing very slowly.

At the conference, experts from Zenplanto Cultivation represented their close collaboration with leading experts such as Dr. Václav Trojan from FNUSA and Dr. Anna Rozkowska from the University of Gdansk, who is involved in the development of sensors to determine the maturity of the flowers. Thanks to such partnership projects, experts can bring innovative approaches to ensure the production of high-quality and standardised medicinal cannabis products.

About Cannabis Business Europe 2024

The annual conference focuses on the latest developments and trends in the European cannabis industry. Key topics include regulation and legislation, production technologies, business opportunities and market trends. Participants are experts from different fields such as producers, researchers, regulators and entrepreneurs who share their experiences and innovations to foster collaboration and growth in the medical as well as recreational cannabis industry in Europe.

About Zenplant:

Founded in 2022, Zenplanto focuses on the healthcare sector, specifically on the production of cannabis-related goods and services. The co-founder and majority owner of the project is eMan Innovations, a venture capital fund focused on domestic and international technology projects with global potential, backed by the technology company eMan. EMan is a leading Czech software supplier, and its shares have been publicly traded on the PX Start market of the Prague Stock Exchange since 2020. More at www.zenplanto.com and www.zenplanto-farms.com.

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This year, the Brno Planetarium once again hosted leading Czech and foreign experts on cannabis and research. They discussed cannabis legislation and the use of cannabis in medical practice.

The conference, organised by the International Centre for Clinical Research, a joint workplace of the St. Anne’s University Hospital and the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University, offered a comprehensive and above all scientific perspective on this issue. “During the conference, we not only presented the development of research on medical cannabis, but we also wanted to contribute to the demythologization of cannabis as such,” said Václav Trojan, the organizer of the event and head of the Cannabis Facility at the International Clinical Research Centre (ICRC).

“Thanks to our participation, we had the opportunity to promote and share knowledge in the field of medical and pharmaceutical innovation. We were able to network with key experts in the field and share our perspectives on medical cannabis innovation,” commented Ales Hrabak, one of the founders of Zenplanto, the general partner of the 9th edition of the conference.

Accredited course, a novelty of Brno experts

A packed programme with top experts from all over the world was prepared for the participants. The prestigious conference was held under the auspices of Ing. Vlastimil Vajdák, Director of St. Anne’s University Hospital in Brno, who gave the opening speech.

A novelty was the presentation of the newly opened accredited course of lifelong learning at Masaryk University “Cannabis in Health and Disease”. In cooperation with the ICRC and St. Anne’s University Hospital, the first year of the course was successfully organized. The course should promote interdisciplinary cooperation in particular.

Will legislation change in the Czech Republic?

Experts such as Lumír Hanuš, the chemist and scientist who isolated anandamide, and Richard Rokyta, a neurophysiologist, brought their findings. Alexandra Šulcová, a pharmacologist from Brno, discussed the therapeutic potential of CBD. Jindřich Vobořil, national drug coordinator, presented plans to change cannabis legislation. He said that a strictly regulated cannabis market would provide better control and reduce health risks .

Jitka Götzová, Director of the Food Safety Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, led the discussion on CBD and HHC. A delegation from Israel was also at the conference, including Ilya Reznik, president of the International Cannabinoid Therapy Association, and Nirit Bernstein, an agricultural engineering expert.

International cooperation

The Cannabis Facility under the FNUSA-ICRC allows for connections with international experts, for example, over high school thesis topics. One of them was shared by student Eva Matěnová from the Blansko Gymnasium, who collaborated with colleagues from the Medical University of Gdansk.

Research and education are an example of an advanced and developed society. Their support also makes sense in terms of investment in the future. That is why Zenplanto supports the scientific and research exchange of the Cannabis Facility, for example with Gdansk.

Our experts have managed to establish a unique cooperation with the Polish university. The cannabis market there is in its infancy, so the experts are both helping with its development and, for example, jointly developing procedures on how and when to determine the optimum maturity of plants grown for the production of medicinal cannabis.

“We thank all participants, organizers and partners for the great cooperation and look forward to another meeting next year, during the 10th anniversary,” commented Aleš Hrabák from Zenplanto.

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Zenplanto has strengthened its market position and obtained the Decision on the Authorization for Distribution of Medicinal Products. It thus becomes one of the few Czech companies that supply quality medical cannabis to pharmacies and other entities authorized to produce medicinal products.

The authorisation allows the Czech cultivation company to supply medical cannabis directly to pharmacies, where it is tailored to patients according to doctors’ prescriptions. In the future, it will be one of the few cultivation plants that also supply its cannabis to the local market. Currently, Czech patients are mostly prescribed cannabis from foreign distributors.

Quality guarantee
GDP, or Good Distribution Practice, guarantees that Zenplanto distributes only cannabis produced by entities with the necessary authorization and is also supplied to verified buyers such as pharmacies and other distributors. At the same time, it is protected from any quality deterioration during transport.

“The authorization obtained under GDP is crucial to assure our customers of the quality and safety of our products. It also allows us to manage our supply chains more efficiently and to control quality, which is essential for compliance with legislative standards in the field of medicinal cannabis,” comments Petra Honsů from Zenplanto’s Quality Assurance Department and Qualified Person for Distribution.

GDP involves thorough control and compliance with strict standards and regulations, including the Medicines Act, the Medicines Production and Distribution Ordinance and the European Union’s Good Distribution Practice Guidelines. “We have implemented a quality system and procedures to ensure continued compliance with these regulations. An effective quality system includes, among other things, regular staff training or internal audits,” adds Honsů.

However, the legislation is still ambiguous
Despite the positive changes, legislation in the field of medicinal cannabis remains partly complicated. Zenplant experts point to the complexity of implementing some of the legislative requirements, which are often made more complicated by the specifics of cannabis. “Although general requirements apply to cannabis as to medicinal substances, and partly also to medicinal products, their interpretation is not always clear. However, SÚKL is very helpful in the certification process, which applies to both the GDP and GMP certification, which we have also obtained,” concludes Honsů.

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