Linus Weber from “Nimbus Health” with his cannabis pharmaceuticals.
© Summer
For a long time, cannabis was hardly noticed by the pharmaceutical industry in Germany, the focus was only on its misuse. The fact that the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC for short) contained in hemp can do much more than develop an intoxicating effect as marijuana or hashish has long been closed to the legislature. The change took place in 2017: “Insured persons with serious illnesses are entitled to a supply of cannabis”, it has since been stated in the Social Security Code. But where does the remedy come from? For those who are prescribed cannabis flowers for processing in pharmacies or drugs containing THC, the chances are good that they will be supplied from Offenbach. More precisely, from Bieber-Waldhof.
Offenbach – This is where “Nimbus Health”, one of the leading pharmaceutical companies for cannabis drugs, is located. It was founded by Linus Weber from Neu-Isenburg in December 2018. The now 30-year-old was employed in the banking and pharmaceutical sector before he ventured into self-employment. He first encountered prescription cannabis while on vacation. “I was in Florida and met a dialysis patient who was given rudimentary cannabis – so I wondered how that fitted together and started researching.”
But when he asked doctors, he got a strong headwind, as he says: Hardly anyone wanted to have something to do with “the intoxicant”. How long the misuse stigmatized the product cannabis is shown by the episode when a tabloid wanted to urge Linus Weber to put on a Jamaican hat and dreadlock wig for photos. Of course Weber refused. “Cannabis is a medical product, not a luxury item – and we are a serious company in the pharmaceutical sector,” he says.
Since entrepreneurship runs in his family’s blood, he has dealt in depth with medical cannabis as a business model and, after the relevant judgment, made the decision to invest in the market. “A lot of people laughed at me at first when I did that – older doctors in particular waved them off,” he recalls. But the success has proven him right, many of the former doubters have now approached him and asked for information about his products.
“Cannabis gave me the opportunity to jump over the hurdle that pharmaceutical products usually have,” he says. Because Weber does not process the plant, he supplies pharmacies with whole or crushed cannabis flowers or with products made from the extract of the cannabis plant. “Tablets need approval, but the raw material for them does not, since cannabis is recognized as a medicinal product.” And so “Nimbus Health” only supplies the raw material, which the pharmacist then processes on the basis of a doctor’s prescription. However, Weber also has a manufacturing license, since the importation of the plant parts is legally regarded as manufacturing. He gets his raw material from all over the world,
The central location of the city in the Rhine-Main area spoke in favor of Offenbach: pharmacies throughout Germany can be supplied within 24 hours. Flowers and extracts are stored in a safe, vacuum-packed or bottled in small bottles.
His company has nine employees, from warehouse clerks to field staff who are in contact with doctors and pharmacies.
Although Germany has taken on a pioneering role in Europe when it comes to prescribing cannabis, the stigma of the party drug is palpable: “Of a good 348,000 doctors in Germany, only around 2,500 prescribe cannabis,” he says, the decades-old reservations could not simply be brushed away. Weber doesn’t want it that easy either, he wants to convince with facts, with studies. To this end, he and other entrepreneurs founded the Federal Association of Pharmaceutical Cannabinoid Companies in order to receive funding for studies and research and to be able to exchange ideas with patient associations.
Countries like Australia are already further along, adds Weber, there are already large studies there with around 16,000 therapy courses to prove the advantages and disadvantages of administering cannabinoids for certain diseases.
The THC contained in the plant is particularly in demand in pain therapy and achieves very good results – without the side effects such as those associated with drugs from the Opiad family, which have a high risk of addiction.
But it is of course not a panacea or miracle cure, as some retailers advertise their hemp- or THC-free cannabis products such as ointments or oils, Weber emphasizes. “Cannabis is a medicinal product and, like any medicine, it depends on the use and dosage.” The current boom with THC-free cannabis products or calls for cannabis approval – Offenbach’s city councilors have recently paved the way for a corresponding model project cleared – Weber takes a critical view: An uncontrolled release without any medical control is problematic. In the case of mental illness, for example, a completely uncontrolled intake of THC without any medical supervision could have dangerous consequences – as with all other active pharmaceutical ingredients, quantity, dosage form and medical control make the difference here too.
It’s not easy for him, because Weber still has to fight for acceptance for his product. And yet he is satisfied with his decision to get into the pharmaceutical business. He is sticking to the Offenbach location, where he has the option of expanding space.
From Frank Sommer
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