Cannabis-based products for medical purposes with sufficient evidence can be registered - Khairy

He said, however, at present there were no cannabis-based products used for medical purposes in humans registered in Malaysia.

"If there are parties who have sufficient scientific evidence to use cannabis for medical purposes by taking into account aspects such as quality, safety and effectiveness (they can make an application).

"Applications to register products containing cannabis for medicinal purposes can be submitted to the DCA to be evaluated and registered under the Control of Drugs and Cosmetics Regulations 1984 and subsequently marketed in Malaysia," he said.

He said this during the winding-up session of the Supply Bill 2022 at the policy level in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Commenting further, he said the DCA had registered a cannabis-based product, 'Sativex' in 2014, however, at the request of the company, the registration of the product was cancelled in 2017.

Khairy said the existing acts that regulate cannabis and its products in the country, namely the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, Poisons Act 1952 and the Sale of Drugs Act 1952 - did not prohibit the use of cannabis for medical purposes.

Meanwhile, commenting on the selection of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-10) over PCV-13 to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease, when the latter was seen to have more protection for children, he said this took into account the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Feb 2019, that both vaccine products were effective in reducing the burden of invasive pneumococcal disease.

"The selection of PCV-10 by the Technical Evaluation Committee and the tender Price Evaluation Committee is because this vaccine product meets the set technical specifications, and the price is more competitive," he said.

He said in 2020, the National Immunisation Policy and Practice Committee had set the selection policy for PCV as a vaccine that was registered with the DCA, and covered at least 10 pneumococcal serotypes.