Canada’s MediPharm Labs Inc. has announced subsidiary MediPharm Labs Australia Pty. Ltd has commenced construction of its cannabis oil extraction facility in South Gippsland, Victoria.
The site is near Wonthaggi, where Medipharm has acquired a plot of industrial land. The extraction facility will initially be approximately 1,000 square metres.
According to the parent company, MediPharm Australia has completed its application process with the federal Office of Drug Control to extract and import medical cannabis products locally and says it is expecting to be in receipt of licensing approval within the next four months.
“Once licensed, MediPharm Australia plans to conduct a series of research & development exercises before submitting an application with the Therapeutics Goods Association, the final step required to commence local business operations,” states the company.
MediPharm Australia is led by Australian entrepreneur Warren Everitt.
MediPharm Labs, established in 2015, specialises in the pharmaceutical production of oil products under a license from Health Canada. The company says it is now preparing to commence distribution to its business partners, who will provide certified products to prescribed patients.
Medipharm Labs doesn’t cultivate medicinal cannabis, but sources materials from Health Canada Licensed Producers, which are third-party tested before arriving at its processing facility and then in-house tested on delivery.
“Canada has many great cannabis cultivators – we are not one of them,” stated the firm earlier this year. “MediPharm Labs offers concentrate products and extraction services to existing and incoming cannabis businesses so they can focus on what they do best.”
The company became Canada’s first ever cannabis oil-only licensed producer, which occurred in March this year.
In Canada, the company will supply cannabis concentrate raw materials as a “white label” solution as part of its services. Its Barrie, Ontario facility has capabilities extract oil from more than 100,000 kg of dry cannabis annually with space to grow as required.
In May, MediPharm signed a binding letter agreement with POCML 4 Inc. (TSXV:POCM) that will result in a reverse take-over of POCML by the shareholders of MediPharm and provide it a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) Venture Exchange (TSXV). This reverse takeover approach is how a number of Australian cannabis companies entered the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).
