Vancouver-based Xebra Brands Ltd has begun cultivation of cannabis in Holland following its pre-trial period.
Xebra has begun cultivating THC cannabis for medical use in Holland as part of the country’s medical cannabis cultivation trial.
The company is one of five that has been selected to participate in the trial, and is aiming to receive one of two licences, with a contract that will last up to six years to co-supply all pharma-grade cannabis to be sold in the Netherlands.
Xebra says that, if successful, this will provide revenue of up to USD$79m (~€70.5m). Cultivation will take place at the company’s indoor facility in The Netherlands.
Commenting on the pre-trial in November, Rodrigo Gallardo, president of Xebra, commented: “We are pleased to have commissioned our facility ahead of schedule, allowing us to conduct a pre-trial cultivation crop cycle, prior to commencement of the formal trial in December.”
Medical cannabis, which is the responsibility of the Office of Medicinal Cannabis (OMC), part of the Office for Health, Welfare and Sport, has been available in the Netherland’s since 2003. Previously, Bedrocan NL has been the only licensed producer in the Netherlands to provide medicinal-grade cannabis under contract for the Dutch Ministry of Health.
The final two license holders from the trial will be selected based on the quality of three trial crops, and will then go on to cultivate and process cannabis in the Netherlands and sell to the Dutch Government.
The government will distribute the product to consumers through pharmacies, which will be sold at a fixed price of €2,350/kg. Annual volume per license holder will be 5000kg.
Director of operations at Xebra in the Netherlands, Harry von Duijne, has more than two decades of experience of practicing horticulture, and formerly had a leading role at Bedrocan from 2014 and 2017.
Duijne was responsible for managing every aspect of operations of a state-of-the-art cannabis facility, from construction through cultivation and processing, quality management, and GMP certification.
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