THC Global gets green light for commercial-scale medicinal cannabis production
The Australian TGA has granted THC Global a GMP licence to manufacture medicinal cannabis from its Southport facility.
THC Global Group (ASX: THC) is poised to commence commercial-scale production of medicinal cannabis after its pharmaceutical bio-floral extraction facility in Queensland was granted a manufacturing licence from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration.
The internationally-recognised GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) licence rounds out the series of permits the company is required to gain to enable commercial manufacture.
It gives THC the authority to manufacture, package and clinically test medicinal cannabis products at its European-designed and built facility in Southport and meets the key requirements for entering the European market.
The licence is a mandatory requirement for the commercial manufacture of medicinal cannabis in Australia, and is mutually-recognised for the supply of pharmaceutical goods in 29 countries across Europe, Asia and North America (Canada).
THC’s Southport facility is the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere and is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical GMP-licenced facilities for the manufacture of medicinal cannabis.
Its European design and equipment origin meets key requirements for entering the rapidly-expanding European market and is reported to be the differentiating factor which sets THC apart from established cannabis companies worldwide.
Earlier this month, Australia’s Office of Drug Control clarified that appropriately-licenced and permitted organisations are able to import cannabis material including extracts, for use in manufacturing processes.
To this end, THC said it would utilise Australian-grown cannabis and imported crude extract to accelerate local manufacture and medicine availability, and ensure full scale-up capacity.
It would also seek to complete negotiations for the export supply of cannabis medicines.
“Receiving a pharmaceutical GMP licence issued by a government authority remains a rarity in the cannabis world,” said chief executive officer Ken Charteris.
“We anticipate near-term completions of commercial negotiations with multiple parties interested in our scalability, quality of production and ability to compete on price globally.”
In December, THC produced its first batch of “farm-to-pharma” medicinal cannabis.
Mr Charteris said there are plans to launch a Schedule 4 CBD oral liquid medicine product followed by additional CBD-THC formulated products later this year.
At mid-morning trade, shares in THC were up 14.10% to $0.445.