On June 10, 2015 hundreds of attendees from all over Canada gathered for the second annual 
Various representatives from licensed producers to testing labs, lawyers and lobbying experts were in attendance to discuss the Canadian cannabis industry.
COO and Dean of Pharmaceutical and Scientific Affairs Laleh Bighash was invited to speak at the conference about her extensive experience working with Health Canada and guiding clients through the application to become a Licensed Producer under the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR).
The application to produce marihuana for medical purposes is strict and rigorous. A strong understanding of the key elements of the MMPR is required. Laleh has been able to successfully help multiple parties navigate through this application process. Her highly informative talk instructed attendees on how to effectively respond to Health Canada’s request for more information and how to reduce time-to-market in regards to individual applications.
Discussing in-dept the steps and stages involved in the current application process including the requirements of a completed application, the initial screening procedure and the advanced screening procedure, Laleh guided attendees through multiple divisions of the MMPR. Her talk focused on Division 3: Security Measures, Division 4: Good Production Practices, the importance of record keeping and how to select the right Quality Assurance personnel.
Thoroughly answering audience questions on Health Canada’s assessment of each application, Laleh revealed that as of March 2015, 1284 applications have been submitted, 252 refused, 224 in process, 40 withdrawn, 935 rejected, 643 deemed incomplete.
Based on her years of experience and detailed understanding of the MMPR, Laleh has been able to guide many clients through the licensed producer application process. Her understanding of quality assurance and quality system requirements have been crucial in the creation of including application support services, writing standard operating procedures, record keeping and other activities.
AAPS would like to congratulate Laleh for her wonderful presentation.