- Company recruits prominent Colombian naturopathic and integrative medicine physician Dr. Paola Cubillos, MD, ND to lead medical cannabis research programs to advance emerging market
- Rapid growth in market presence from Licensed Producers and cannabis-focused product manufactures create prime conditions to immediately leverage Company’s technology, data and research capabilities
- Initial research efforts will focus on acute and chronic pain and will extend to other indications in the near-term
- Company to build patient registry and grow physician network across Colombia leveraging its proprietary artificial intelligence Decision Support Tool
TORONTO, ON – September 3, 2019 – CB2 Insights (CSE:CBII; OTCQB: CBIIF) (“CB2” or the “Company”), a leading data-driven company focused on bringing real-world evidence driven from the point-of-care to the medical cannabis community, today announced it is entering the Colombian market to advance medical cannabis research efforts within the country. The focus is to build Colombia’s patient registry and grow the country’s physician network using CB2’s proprietary artificial intelligence based Decision Support Tool and CB2’s Sail, the industry’s first Clinical Trial Data Management System. To achieve these goals, CB2 has appointed Dr. Paola Cubillos, MD, a prominent Colombian naturopathic and integrative medicine physician, as the Company’s Medical Director in Colombia.
Dr. Cubillos was trained and has practiced in both Toronto, Canada and Colombia. Fusing both conventional and naturopathic treatments, she has spearheaded several medical cannabis research efforts at Clinica Las Americas, a highly recognized private hospital in Colombia that belongs to one of the largest healthcare networks in Latin America. Dr. Cubillos has been at the forefront of medical cannabis advancements and physician perception and education throughout Colombia and Latin America.
“There has been solid growth in positive physician perception throughout Colombia, but we are now at an inflection point where cultivators and manufacturers must embrace traditional research protocols to truly commercialize their products in a meaningful way,” said Dr. Paola Cubillos, Medical Director, Colombia, CB2 Insights. “CB2 Insights has become the go-to name for cannabis-focused research programs in the US, Canada and the United Kingdom, and I’m excited to bring that experience to the Colombian market.”
CB2’s Colombian Opportunity
Colombia represents one of the world’s most important emerging medical cannabis markets. Major local and international cultivators and product manufacturers have invested heavily in the Colombian market as of late, including: Canopy Growth, Aphria, Khiron, Medicine Man Technologies and PharmaCielo. Experts have estimated that Colombia could supply as much as two fifths of the world’s cannabis in the future[1]. CB2 Insights, by way of its new Medical Director, Dr. Cubillos will look to be the bridge between physician readiness and the substantial product development occurring within Colombia.
The Company will focus its efforts on supporting Licensed Producers, product manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders in Colombia that require comprehensive research strategies to bring cannabis-based medicines to market. Traditional clinical research has often been a challenge for manufacturers due to regulatory restrictions and lack of clear guidelines to follow traditional product development frameworks, thus diminishing physicians’ willingness to integrate medical cannabis products into traditional treatment plans.
In the immediate-term, the Company will work to build the patient registry within Colombia, grow the network of physicians ready to prescribe medical cannabis within their practice and support stakeholders in the complete management and execution of clinical trials; data which will help to generate safety and efficacy data for local regulatory agencies including INVIMA – Colombia’s National Food and Drug Surveillance Institute. In addition, the Company will launch its proprietary Decision Support Platform to help provide point-of-care education and reference guidelines to physicians seeking to identify cannabis as a treatment option for their patients. CB2 Insights’ tools will enable physicians to follow standardized protocols in assessing, determining and prescribing medical cannabis including the identification of patient-specific potential risk factors, drug-drug interactions, dosing guidelines and titration schedules.
