Medical marijuana research firm Tikun Olam has expanded its partnership with a canna-centric Massachusetts holding company that will eventually increase the Israeli business’ U.S. footprint to seven states.
Under its new agreement with Newton, Massachusetts-based holding company MariMed, Tikun Olam’s MMJ products will be grown, manufactured and sold in four states where MariMed has a presence – Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The arrangement will begin in 2018, according to a joint news release.
The two companies initially signed a pilot licensing agreement in 2015 allowing MariMed to grow Tikun Olam’s proprietary strains of MMJ in Delaware, where MariMed owns a vertically integrated business, according to the release.
Tikun Olam produces medical strains that focus on diseases that include cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, epilepsy, colitis and neuropathy.
According to the release, the company plans to grow at least six of its branded strains in the United States to sell as flower or manufacture for vape oil, topicals, tinctures and edibles.
The Tikun Olam-MariMed arrangement is the latest example of foreign cannabis companies entering the American market. Last month, Canadian and Israeli firms teamed up to take control of four grow sites in Arizona, Maryland, Massachusetts and Nevada.
