ELIXXER Ltd. announced that Little Green Pharma (LGP) has been approved by the Office of Drug Control (“ODC”) an expansion to LGP’s current Medicinal Cannabis Licence. This allows the cultivation and production of medicinal cannabis, and conduct ancillary activities, at its newly expanded cultivation facility and adjacent new manufacturing facility in Western Australia.
The Company has also been granted a Manufacturing Licence by the ODC to manufacture cannabis dry flower, extracts, tinctures, and resins at its new manufacturing facility. Subject to the granting of an expanded Medicinal Cannabis Permit, LGP expects first planting at its expanded cultivation facility to take place in Q2CY2020. The expanded cultivation facility will consist of nine flowering rooms. At full capacity the cultivation facility will have the capacity to produce sufficient cannabis flower to manufacture more than 110,000 bottles of medicinal cannabis oil per annum.
Commenting on the granting of the licences, LGP Managing Director Fleta Solomon said, “These licences mark an important step in expanding LGP’s cultivation and manufacturing capacity and achieving internal vertical integration and cost reduction.
“The expanded Medicinal Cannabis Licence and new Manufacturing Licence will give us greater production flexibility and the capacity to fulfil recently signed purchase agreements with distributors in Germany and the UK.
German Medicinal Cannabis Market Overview
Germany represents a significant opportunity for LGP as the largest medicinal cannabis market in Europe, estimated to be worth €7.7 billion (A$12.5 billion) by 2028 . The number of prescriptions for medicinal cannabis in Germany is growing rapidly; there were 95,000 prescriptions at the end of 2018 and more than 240,000 prescriptions were expected by the end of 2019 .
It is expected Germany will remain a favourable market for the import of medicinal cannabis oil products due to insufficient domestic supply as a result of significant delays in its domestic cultivation tendering process, with the first licences only awarded in 2019 .
