Pain relief from a secure joint: Behind the gates at Helius Therapeutics

My first sight of Helius Therapeutics is a tall metal fence; a white building, part industrial warehouse, part super-secret spy facility, sits beyond it. No Aston Martins in the car park, though – I checked.

The East Tāmaki facility is 8800sqm, making it roughly the size of two rugby fields, and “HELIUS” signage is proudly displayed out front.

I don’t know if the fence is electric, but the place is giving off a Jurassic Park feel so I’m not taking any chances touching it.

A security person (at least I assume he is, he’s wearing high-vis) greets me and checks my name is on the list.

Once inside, I’m given a white sticker with my name on it, ushered up a staircase and led into a boardroom where about 20 doctors and pharmacists wait to find out the secrets of the universe, or at least, how cannabis can help to treat pain.

Guest speaker Michael Murphy, clinical director of medicinal cannabis clinic CannaPlus+, gives a short presentation on the history of cannabis and the latest research on its medicinal qualities.

While morphine (extracted from opioids) and cocaine were used for medicinal purposes throughout the late 19th and into the 20th century, cannabidiol was only isolated in 1940 and it wasn’t until 1964 that tetrahydrocannabinol was separated from cannabis, Dr Murphy says.

It took another 23 years before the discovery of the endocannabinoid system, an “essential, complex [and] dynamic” 500-million-year-old, internal homeostatic system, present in every animal with a spine, he says.

This ultimately led to research into how each component of the cannabis plant can be used to treat different ailments.

Dr Murphy says countries such as Australia collect data on which products are being used to treat various conditions. Such data collection is not done in New Zealand but putting it in place would help develop local research, he says.

Citing the New Zealand Drug Foundation’s State of the Nation 2020 report, Dr Murphy says 4.5 per cent of adult Kiwis use cannabis at least weekly (approximately 250,000 people); this figure is close to the number of anti-depressant prescriptions nationwide.

The report suggests 42 per cent of survey respondents who used cannabis did so for medicinal purposes but just 6 per cent of them had a prescription for a legal form of it.

New Zealand’s medicinal cannabis market is demonstrating “fantastically strong” growth, ahead of the company’s predictions, Ms Doran says.

MedSafe data obtained by Helius under the Official Information Act shows more than 60,000 packs of products containing medicinal cannabis were sold in New Zealand in 2022.

MedSafe says this figure only reflects packs and does not account for the number of prescriptions, patients or doses.

Additionally, the data is indicative of unapproved medications so does not include products with consent to be distributed as medicines, specifically Sativex and Epidyolex.

Doctors and patients are starting to reduce the stigma associated with the drug, Ms Doran says. The company is keen to educate doctors to encourage them to feel comfortable to prescribe treatments of this kind.

Regulatory changes are expected to make it easier for Helius to export its products, allowing the company to grow internationally and establish more options for its Kiwi patients, says Ms Doran.

Asked just after last month’s general election whether the poll would affect Helius or the wider medicinal cannabis industry, she says various MPs had visited the facility and many parties recognised the industry’s value.

“We’re proud to be supplying New Zealand-grown, New Zealand-made products for our [local] patients.

“I’m really excited about being able to offer better, more effective dosage forms for specific treatments in future but also wrapping the data and the science around that to bring doctors along on the journey,” Ms Doran says.