Aurora to resume medical cannabis sales in Germany

Aurora Cannabis Germany, Aurora to resume medical cannabis sales in Germany

Alberta, Canada-based Aurora Cannabis said Monday that it obtained the necessary permits to resume sales of medical marijuana in Germany.

In November, Marijuana Business Daily reported that the company’s products were not available in Germany until further notice.

According to Aurora, pharmacies can now start fulfilling orders from “inventory currently held in Germany.”

Germany, the largest European market for medical marijuana, will be totally dependent on imports until at least the end of 2020.

Imports have doubled year after year since the start of the cannabis program entered into force in early 2017.

The country imported 6,714 kilograms (14,802 pounds) of medical cannabis flower in 2019, primarily for pharmacy dispensing.

MJBizDaily estimates that more than 100 million euros ($111 million) worth of different medicinal cannabis products were reimbursed by statutory health insurers in 2019.

Aurora also announced that its “Aurora River production facility, located in Bradford, Ontario, has received European Union Good Manufacturing Practice certification.”

According to the company, the GMP certification – “a requirement for the export of medical cannabis products into most European markets” – will allow the company to increase supply to international markets.

The company said its newly certified facility has a production capacity of 28,000 kilograms per year.

Aurora already had two other EU-GMP-certified facilities, but their combined production capacity is smaller than Aurora River’s.

Aurora’s latest EU-GMP certification was issued by the Berlin State Office for Health and Social Affairs (Landesamt für Gesundheit und Soziales Berlin) on Dec. 23, 2019.

The inspection was carried out in April 2019, according to the publicly available certificate.

Leamington, Ontario-based Aphria also recently obtained a EU-GMP certifications.

Aurora’s shares trade as ACB on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Aphria trades as APHA on the NYSE and TSX.

Alfredo Pascual can be reached at alfredop@mjbizdaily.com