EDMONTON and SASKATOON, Canada — Aurora Cannabis Inc. and CanniMed Therapeutics Inc. announced this week that CanniMed has entered into a Letter of Intent to become a preferred supplier of medical cannabis to Pharmasave.

A member governed cooperative of more than 650 independently owned community pharmacies across the country, Pharmasave is one of Canada’s leading independent community pharmacies.

Subject to changes to regulations that would allow such distribution, CanniMed and Aurora will supply and distribute high-quality medical cannabis, produced at the companies’ GMP compliant and GMP certified facilities, through Pharmasave pharmacists across Canada.

Pharmasave recognized some time ago that pharmacists need to be prepared to fulfil their role as medication experts in the area of medical cannabis. As such, for more than a year, Pharmasave has been educating Pharmasave pharmacists to ensure they are prepared to support patients and physicians in medication management. This includes how medical cannabis may affect other medications the patient may take, any health conditions they might have, and insights on how to identify and address mental health and addiction concerns in patients.

CanniMed has supported this commitment to understanding medical cannabis with product information, access to medical experts and updates on the latest research and clinical information available. In addition to supplying Pharmasave pharmacists with medical cannabis once permitted, CanniMed and Aurora will continue to provide pharmacists with education related to medical cannabis.

“Canadians trust pharmacists to help guide them to the right information and products to treat their conditions,” Terry Booth, Aurora chief executive officer said in a statement.

“Now Pharmasave joins two other national pharmacy chains in showing their trust in us to provide them with medical cannabis products and education. These supply agreements allow us strong penetration into what is likely to be a sizable portion of the medical cannabis market, and they highlight the strength of our organizations, the scale of our operations and the world-class operational standards that both Aurora and CanniMed practice. We’re proud to partner with Pharmasave and expand our ability to help Canadians in need find the relief they are seeking,” he added.