MGC Pharmaceuticals gains approval for cannabis skin care line
Europe and US drive
MGC Pharmaceuticals has achieved the nod to market its MGC Derma cosmetics line by receiving approval from the European Commission’s Cosmetics Product Notification Portal.
After also receiving approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in 2016, MGC Pharmaceuticals can now explore business opportunities in two of the world's largest skin care regions.
The MGC Derma product range is manufactured using medical cannabis to provide anti-ageing benefits. The Australian company can now promote its range of skin care options that include moisturising day cream SPF 30, active bright facial cream, active firming anti-ageing mask and anti puffiness and dark circles eye cream to meet this growing demand.
Stock entry
MGC (Medical Grade Company) Pharmaceuticals is a medical and cosmetics cannabis company that supplies legalised market with cannabis products.
In February 2016, MGC Pharmaceuticals was placed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) under the name of Medlab Clinical. By acquiring 80% of Panax, through its licence agreements, the firm was able to research, grow, import and export medical marijuana from the Czech Republic. During this time, MGC Pharmaceuticals was only permitted to sell non-psychoactive cannabidiol to medical and cosmetic markets in Europe.
The company, which became the first commercial business to conduct therapeutic cannabis research, carried out its analysis at Sydney laboratory, in Australia.
Clinical trial results
The cannabis skin care line was tested on 90 volunteers over a total of three months by Dr Rok Devjak at a Slovenian dermatology clinic.
The European licence, awarded by the Cosmetics Product Notification Portal, has been formed as part of a three-year strategic plan at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, which now enables MGC Pharmaceuticals to grow and cultivate cannabis for research programmes and skin care applications.
“This new medicinal cannabis license cements our strong global botanical research credentials and has enabled us to commence an additional genetics and cross-breeding programme,” said Nativ Segev, co-founder and managing director, MGC Pharmaceuticals.
Following the final clinical trials, the cannabis skin care producer found that 92% of participants would continue using the creams they tried during this testing exercise, Business News Western Australia reported.
These reports accompanied other findings that showed how MGC Derma’s products improved skin irritation by 86%, acne prone skin by 80%, psoriatic plaques by 73% and the visual appearances of dryness, redness, flaky and oily skin conditions by 70%.
Marketing first
When marketing its product range, in support of European Parliamentary regulations, MGC Pharmaceuticals must include specific claims relating to the product line’s effectiveness and may include the specific phrase ‘dermatologically tested’ on its labelling.
“Validating the use of medicinal cannabis through rigorous clinical tests is vital to our business model and, with over 50 products still in development, these positive test results give us a glimpse into the exciting potential of our product range,” added Segev to the press.
MGC Pharmaceuticals is preparing to market its range through pharmacies and its own website in Europe by Autumn 2017.
