Creso Pharma Limited (ASX: CPH) has secured a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) with a licenced cannabis grower Innuana AG, Switzerland to grow and market medicinal cannabis for the burgeoning market in Switzerland.
Innuana is focused on the research, growing, processing and production of medicinal grade cannabis. The group has been involved in cannabis cultivation, breeding and research for several years.
Innuana has an established reputation in Switzerland and in October 2021, received one of the initial public orders to grow cannabis by the local government to cover the needs of the City of Zürich in 2022 and beyond.
Both Creso Pharma and Innuana have executed the LOI agreement following recent amendments to the Swiss Narcotics Act in March 2021, which facilitates the patient access for the use of medicinal cannabis in Switzerland.
Following the change of the regulations, the cultivation, processing, production and trade of medicinal cannabis will become subject to the authorisation and control system of the Swiss agency for therapeutic products, Swissmedic.
Accordingly, treatment with medicinal cannabis will no longer require an exceptional authorization by FOPH (Federal Office of Public Health).
Creso Pharma’s Director of International Operations, Jorge Wernli, said the legislative shifts will enable Creso Pharma to expand its Swiss operations and enter into the Swiss medicinal cannabis market.
Under the LOI, Innuana will grow and produce medicinal cannabis products to the company’s specifications, which Creso Pharma will sell and distribute to patients. The initial term of the agreement is one year and will automatically renew after one year, unless either party notifies the other of their decision to not renew the agreement within 30 days prior to the expiry of the Initial or Renewal Term.
Creso Pharma will bring in its medical and pharmaceutical expertise for the growing specifications, and the marketing and use of the product.
Creso will also leverage its established relationships with prescribers and clinics in Switzerland to drive prescription sales growth.
Initially, Creso Pharma will focus on the Swiss market, which provides access to a potential 110,000 Swiss patients in 2022 in a market expected to grow to CHF1.3Bn (A$1.9Bn) by 2028. Additional expansion efforts into other countries will follow in due course.
Recent regulatory shifts in Switzerland have unlocked a significant opportunity for Creso Pharma and this collaboration with Innuana marks the first step in our expansion into the Swiss prescription market,” Mr Wernlisaid.
“Healthcare professionals will now be able to prescribe medicinal cannabis products to a large range of patients and importantly this agreement will allow Creso to grow cannabis to its own specifications, utilising pharmaceutical experience and product expertise. “Initially, we will focus on Switzerland with the medium-term objective to export the products into countries with similar opportunities.”