Inhaler: A new way to puff proper dose of marijuana

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For so many years patients and medical experts are struggling to measure the specific drug dosage for medicinal marijuana to treat certain diseases. However, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (ADR), together with Syqe Medical, has made a new treatment option that makes it easier to have a proper dose of marijuana.

Recently, an agreement between Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Tel Aviv-based Syqe Medical, to distribute and market medical cannabis in an inhaler, was signed.

This will be the first time that a major global pharma company has agreed to market medicinal marijuana product, per Syqe.

Stated in the agreement that Teva will exclusively market and distribute the cannabis inhaler, developed by Syqe, in Israel.

Although Syqe Inhaler has been used for more than a year in Haifa's Rambam Hospital, the first hospital in the world to use medical marijuana, it is still expected to receive Health Ministry approval for home use next year as part of the agreement.

According to Times of Israel, "Teva Israel is entering to field of medical cannabis out of a deep commitment to patients coping with pain, which is one of the company's top core therapeutic areas", Avinoam Sapir, Teva Isreal CEO and Teva's director to Africa and the middle east, said.

Likewise, as a director of Innovation in Emerging Markets, Sapir also added that the "state of the art technology and ground breaking devices, such as developed by Syqe Medical and which generate tremendous therapeutic value for patients and medical staffs, integrate perfectly into the strategy of Teva Isreal."

A lax regulatory environment, dozens of local medical firms and a reputation as a high-tech hub, Israel is to become a leader in cannabis technology.

The international medical cannabis market is forecast to be worth $20 billion within a decade. And about 1% of the global population are potential medical cannabis users at some point during their lifetime.

Per Investor Place, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Syqe Medical did not reveal yet the financial details of the deal but, a 2016 report indicates that there are 26,000 medical cannabis consumption licenses spending $1,000 a month.

In a joint statement made by Teva and Syqe, "The company has completed clinical trials, which demonstrated the inhaler's precision and compliance with the pharmaceutical standards for delivery of inhaled cannabis."

The inhaler will allow medical professionals to prescribe an optimal dose of cannabis, alleviating the patient's symptoms while minimizing the psychoactive effects as well as it is convenient and accessible to patients who are reluctant to smoke cannabis.

However, in the absence of the precise dosing, cannabis could not be prescribed as a standard medical treatment, causing difficulties for patients and physicians who treat them.

But, Syqe Medical's technology has a way to modify the physical structure of the plant. It can preserve the plant natural medicinal content while enabling safe, specific and quantifiable delivery using an inhaler. Although, it is still yet unknown the quantities of active ingredients inhaled from cannabis.