Little Green Pharma’s (ASX: LGP) international expansion continues to build momentum with the vertically integrated medicinal cannabis business becoming Australia’s first ever exporter of locally produced medicinal cannabis products for patients in the potentially highly lucrative United Kingdom market.
The medicinal cannabis oil products are to be distributed in the UK by Astral Health, a UK-based specialist importer and distributor of medicinal cannabis products, under a sales agreement signed back in February.
Astral Health is a subsidiary of the LYPHE Group, which holds one of the few medicinal cannabis clinic licences in the UK, operates a network of seven medicinal cannabis clinics across the country and expects to assist more than 2,000 patients in CY2020.
Last month, UK improved the access pathway for medicinal cannabis to patients with the UK Home Office and MHRA announcing import permits may now be granted based on anticipated prescription quantities. This also increases the efficiency of the process of exporting products to the UK.
Little Green Pharma is one of a few companies with GMP-produced cannabinoid medicines available in the UK,” LGP Managing Director Fleta Solomon said.
“We are proud to be leading the charge in helping patients across the globe access quality Australian medicinal cannabis products.”
Australia’s Minister for Health, Greg Hunt also said:
“This first export of Australian-produced medicinal cannabis oils to the UK marks an important step in fulfilling Australia’s vision of building a global medicinal cannabis industry capable of supplying quality medicinal cannabis products to both Australian and overseas patients.”
The UK industry is forecast to grow to A$2.10 billion by 2024, with an expected 400,000 patients being prescribed medicinal cannabis.
The Company also has a three-year sales agreement for the sale, export, and distribution of LGP Classic medicinal cannabis oils and LGP-cultivated dried cannabis flower in Germany via Berlin-based DEMECAN – the only German company that covers the entire medicinal cannabis production chain.
Today’s news comes after the Company last month completed commissioning of its expanded cultivation facility in Western Australia which will have the capacity to produce sufficient cannabis flower to manufacture more than 110,000 bottles of medicinal cannabis oil per annum, approximately ten times the current production capacity.