Medical cannabis company MediPharm Labs Australia Pty Ltd has been awarded $330,000 as part of the Australian Government’s $50 million Manufacturing Modernisation Fund.
The Manufacturing Modernisation Fund is focused on investing in small and medium sized Australian enterprises, with the goal of increasing innovation, enhancing productivity, boosting jobs and upskilling in the country’s manufacturing sector.
Co-funding grants of between $100,000 and $1 million, up to 25 per cent of eligible project expenditure, are available for SMEs with up to 199 employees.
Medipharm Labs Australia, which was established in 2017, says it will use the funds to improve efficiency of its cannabis purification system and the automation of its primary packaging manufacturing process.
“This grant will allow MediPharm Labs to invest in innovation which will boost productivity to accelerate its expansion plans to execute on its global strategy – a great outcome for our Company’s growth trajectory,” said the firm’s Asia Pacific CEO Warren Everitt.
Commercialization of the Australian extraction facility was completed and generated its first revenues in the first half of last year.
Parent company Canada-headquartered MediPharm Labs Corp. entered into a buyout agreement to acquire the remaining chunk MediPharm Labs Australia in October 2020. Since that time, some of the Australian subsidiary’s progress includes export of its first shipment of cannabis oil products manufactured in Australia to Germany after gaining the necessary approval from Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration.
In other recent news from Medipharm Labs in relation to its operations elsewhere, the company announced last week it has received approval to ship ship medical cannabis oil to Brazil. This initial delivery is for the company’s partner XLR8, and the medicines will go directly to patients under Brazil’s compassionate care program. According to MediPharm Labs, the program had over 20,000 patients in 2020 and is growing by 1,500 patients a month.
Founded in 2015, MediPharm Labs develops and manufactures purified, pharmaceutical-quality cannabis concentrates, active pharmaceutical ingredients and advanced derivative products. As well as products under its own brand, it also offers white-label services.
Its Canadian facility received TGA GMP certification in December 2019 and its Australian facility in May 2020.
