Tilray branch receives medical cannabis grow license under Germany’s new law

Aphria RX, the Neumünster, Germany-based subsidiary of Tilray Brands, announced Monday it received a medical marijuana cultivation license under the European country’s new Cannabis Act.

Tilray, based in Leamington, Ontario, Canada, and New York, said in a news release the cultivation permit was the first to be issued under Germany’s new recreational cannabis law, which took effect April 1.

The new law, approved Feb. 23, among other things, removed marijuana from the narcotics list, legalized possession for adults of up to 25 grams (0.88 ounces), allowed for “cannabis clubs” – one has already been approved for a permit – and amended Germany’s Medicinal Cannabis Act (MedCanG).

New medical cannabis provisions

Under the MedCanG amendments, according to the ECA Academy, operators seeking to grow medical cannabis in Germany:

• Will be permitted to “market and distribute their harvest themselves” but will be subject to inspections by the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) and other authorities.
• Must continue to obtain BfArM authorization but won’t need to meet or follow European Union “tendering procedure.”
• Must meet quality requirements set by pharmaceutical law, including Good Agricultural and Collection Practice (GACP), Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Good Distribution Practice (GDP).

The ECA Academy is the educational arm of the Heidelberg-headquartered ECA Foundation, which says its mission is to promote “the harmonisation of GMP/GDP regulations.”

The license attained by Aphria RX allows the company to “cultivate and manufacture a broad commercial range of medical cannabis, providing patients with better access to high-quality medical cannabis produced in Germany,” according to the release.

Aphria now will be able to significantly increase production capacity and expand its strains from three to 31.

‘New opportunities’

Tilray CEO Irwin Simon said in an April 9 earnings call that, even though the newly enacted Cannabis Act doesn’t create a fully commercial recreational market, “new opportunities for Tilray flow mostly from the removal of medical cannabis from the Narcotics Act.”

“This de-schedule change is expected to significantly expand the medical cannabis market in Germany,” he continued, “as it would allow for more doctors to prescribe medical cannabis more easily to patients and potentially allow for broader health insurance coverage.”