Tilray Medical Backs German Regulators' New Guidance on Cannabis Extract Prescribing

Tilray Medical welcomed clarified prescribing rules from German health-insurance bodies but called for legislation to lock in patient access, amid a broader reshaping of the country's medical cannabis

FILE — cultivation · Cannabis Tours / CC BY-SA 4.0

Tilray Brands' medical division said new guidance from two German health-insurance associations marks progress for the country's medical cannabis framework but does not resolve all outstanding legal questions, according to a company statement distributed via GLOBE NEWSWIRE and republished by Yahoo Finance. The statement is a company-issued press release rather than independent reporting.

Guidance From Insurance Bodies

The guidance in question was issued by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband), according to Tilray Medical's statement. It addresses how physicians may prescribe standardized full-spectrum cannabis extracts under Germany's revised reimbursement rules, the company said.

Rajnish Ohri, President, International at Tilray Brands, said the guidance "represents meaningful progress and provides valuable direction for healthcare professionals navigating medical cannabis prescribing," and that further legislative clarity "will help strengthen confidence in the framework and support long-term stability for patients, physicians and healthcare providers." Ohri also said Germany "continues to set an important example for medical cannabis in Europe by advancing a thoughtful, science-based framework that puts patients and physicians at the center of care," according to the same statement.

What Tilray Says Still Needs Fixing

Tilray Medical's statement outlined three areas it says require further legislative action: clearer rules for physicians on when standardized extracts and other magistral preparations are appropriate; protection against treatment disruption for patients already stabilized on such preparations; and greater predictability around reimbursement eligibility as rules continue to evolve. The company said codifying the current interpretation into law would preserve what it called physicians' "freedom of therapy" while giving insurers and providers longer-term planning certainty.

A Shifting German Market

The guidance follows a period of regulatory flux in Germany's medical cannabis system. MMJDaily reported in July that Germany discontinued statutory insurance reimbursement for cannabis flower, a change that has fed into broader uncertainty about which cannabis-based products remain reimbursable. Separately, Mshale reported this month that Germany has scaled back parts of its cannabis legalization plans to focus more narrowly on home cultivation, while the CDU/CSU has called for a broader policy review two years into legalization, according to dw.com.

At the same time, Germany's regulated cannabis trade has continued to expand by some measures. The Financial Times reported that Germany has become Europe's largest regulated cannabis market, and Hanf Magazin reported that cannabis imports hit a record 67.6 tonnes in the first quarter of 2026. Moneycontrol similarly reported that legal sales and rising imports are driving a broader cannabis boom in the country. However, government data cited by Business of Cannabis found no signs of the harms predicted by legalization critics, suggesting the policy debate is not being driven by adverse health outcomes so far.

Industry Positioning Around the Rules

The regulatory uncertainty has coincided with consolidation among companies active in the German market. Sanity Group, a German cannabis firm, was acquired by Canadian producer Organigram, according to a Sanity Group announcement, with Organigram's chief executive separately telling MJBizDaily that Germany is central to the company's European expansion plans. Tilray's statement did not reference cultivation capacity, production volumes or specific investment figures for Germany, and no additional license records or sales filings were available in company or state databases to independently verify operational changes tied to this announcement.

What to Watch

Tilray Medical's call for legislative codification suggests the company views the KBV/GKV-Spitzenverband guidance as an interim rather than final fix. Whether German lawmakers act on that request — and how the recent rollback of flower reimbursement and home-cultivation-focused policy shift interact with extract prescribing rules — remains unresolved based on the available reporting. Given the mix of expansionary market data and tightening reimbursement policy in recent coverage, the net effect on patient access and industry investment in Germany is not yet clear from the material reviewed.