Urgent action needed to protect UK patients following Bedrocan insolvency
October 20, 2026 | IN NEWS | BY Kate Thorpe
The Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society (MCCS) is calling for urgent action to protect UK patients who rely on Bedrolite following the insolvency of Dutch medical cannabis producer Bedrocan.
Bedrocan Nederland B.V. and Bedrocan International B.V. were declared bankrupt in the Netherlands in October, following the end of the company’s longstanding supply arrangement with the Dutch Office of Medicinal Cannabis (OMC) and delays to planned changes to the Dutch regulatory framework.
The situation is of particular concern for a small number of children in the UK with severe, treatment-resistant epilepsy who are prescribed Bedrolite and for whom maintaining a consistent medicine is clinically extremely important.
There are currently understood to be seven UK prescriptions affected. The issue was raised in the House of Commons on 15 October, where MPs heard that one affected family’s current supply is expected to run out in December.
For these patients, this is not simply a question of changing brand or substituting one cannabis medicine for another. Children with complex, drug-resistant epilepsy may have reached stability only after years of unsuccessful treatment and careful clinical management. Indeed, for children with epilepsy it is highly likely an alternative product will not have the same effect and place the child at risk of seizures, status epilepticus and a 10% chance of death.
MCCS calls on the Government to act
MCCS has written urgently to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, asking the UK Government to intervene.
We have asked the Government to work directly with the Dutch authorities to help secure continued access to Bedrolite for affected UK patients, including exploring the release of existing OMC-held stocks and establishing an emergency supply arrangement while a longer-term solution is found.
The Dutch authorities have indicated that existing stocks should be sufficient to continue supplying patients within the Netherlands until at least mid-2027. However, the immediate concern is that these stocks are intended for domestic Dutch supply while established international supply arrangements are disrupted.
Given the very small number of UK patients involved, MCCS believes that every possible avenue should now be explored to protect continuity of treatment.
Raising the issue in Parliament
MCCS has also helped raise the issue directly in Parliament through our role as co-secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Medical Cannabis under Prescription. The Society’s wider work with the APPG is focused on raising awareness of barriers to access and finding practical, evidence-based solutions.
A written parliamentary question asks the House whether the Government will take diplomatic and regulatory steps with the Dutch Ministry of Health and the MHRA to secure the emergency export release of existing Bedrolite stocks following Bedrocan’s insolvency.
The question also asks the Government what assessment it has made of the clinical risks to paediatric patients facing an immediate supply shortage, including the risks of status epilepticus and sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.
At the time of writing, a substantive Government response to these questions is awaited.
Medcan Family Foundation launches humanitarian appeal
The Medcan Family Foundation, which supports families of children living with severe treatment-resistant epilepsy, has also issued an urgent humanitarian appeal to the Dutch Ministry of Health and the OMC.
Medcan is requesting urgent discussions with the Dutch authorities and has asked them to consider a targeted, time-limited humanitarian release of existing Bedrolite stocks for affected UK children while sustainable supply routes are restored.
Its appeal calls for an urgent review of available stocks, a lawful export mechanism and coordinated action between the Dutch and UK authorities, while ensuring that the needs of Dutch patients are also protected. With only a small number of UK patients affected, there is an opportunity for governments, regulators, clinicians, suppliers and patient organisations to work together quickly to prevent an avoidable interruption in treatment.
Continuity of care must come first
Medical cannabis has been legally available on prescription in the UK since November 2018, but NHS access remains extremely limited. MCCS has consistently argued that patients who benefit from cannabis-based medicines should be able to access them through appropriate, sustainable healthcare pathways.
The present situation demonstrates why continuity of supply is an important part of that discussion.
Whatever the commercial or regulatory circumstances surrounding Bedrocan’s insolvency, patients who have been established on a medicine and are benefiting from treatment should not become collateral damage.
MCCS will continue working with parliamentarians, clinicians, patient organisations and other stakeholders to press for an urgent solution. We are asking the UK Government and Dutch authorities to work together now to protect these patients and ensure that no child experiences an avoidable interruption to an established and clinically important treatment.