OBJECTIVES: Portugal legalized the dispensing of cannabis-based prescription medicines (CBPM) for medicinal purposes in community pharmacies (CP) in 2018 and approved a list of therapeutic indications in 2019. In 2023, two CBPM were marketed, and little was known about the characteristics of CBPM users in Portugal.The objective of this study is to generate evidence about the use of CBPM in terms of patient profile, origin of the prescription, history of CBPM use and comedication in the real-world setting in Portugal.

METHODS: Retrospective, multicenter, cohort of CBPM users identified in a pool of Portuguese community pharmacies. Dispense data was retrieved between Jan2019 and Jun2023. Data regarding demographic characteristics, CP dispenses (of CBPM and concomitant medication, including prescriber’s medical specialty and healthcare setting) were collected. Concomitant medication was analyzed for the period between the first and the last CBM dispense ±60 days.

RESULTS: 453 single CBPM users were identified. Only 125 individuals (27.6%) had CBPM dispenses in the 1^st semester of 2023, most of which (43.2%) had started treatment in that year. Around 51% were male with mean age of 55.1 years (SD=16.2), and 29.4% were living in the Lisbon District. The first prescriber was mainly the neurologist (29.7%), the anesthesiologist (16.0%), and Family doctor/GP (15.3%). Almost 70% of first prescriptions were issued in the private sector and 47.1% in primary care. Most subjects purchased a CBPM only once (64.1%) and purchased only one unit (59.6%). The most frequent concomitant ATC classes (level3) were: N06A Antidepressants (39.5%), N02B Other Analgesics and Antipyretics (37.5%), N02A Opioids (31.6%), and N05B Anxiolytics (29.5%).

CONCLUSIONS: Since market entry, few patients started treatment with CBPM in Portugal, most being one-time users. The prescribers’ medical specialties and concomitant medications suggest that the real-world therapeutic indications of CBMP are related to pain and/or neurological conditions. More research is needed to understand these profiles.