Little Green Pharma (LGP) has been awarded an Italian Government tender for the shipment of medical cannabis into the country.
The EU GMP-compliant medical cannabis flowers will be shipped from LGP’s Danish cannabis facility.
With, a population of 60 million people the country’s medical cannabis market grew by 50 per cent in 2019. The company has stated that the shipment value of ~€200,000 is not material, but that in winning the tender it has joined a small group of international cannabis producers qualified to supply cannabis flower medicines into Italy.
This positions LGP strongly for upcoming Italian Government tenders.
In June 2021, LGP became a major player in Europe’s market with the purchase of the Denmark production operation from Canopy Growth, making it a significant producer on the continent. Company analysis at the time stated the the £11.6m facility, operating at only 25 per cent of its capacity, could 20 tonnes of raw material a year.
Read more: Little Green Pharma buys up huge European production operation
LGP has stated it would ‘ramp up’ production at the Denmark facility – planning to use the acquisition to break into Europe’s medical cannabis market. This new tender gives LGP access to the Italian medical cannabis market with 60 million population.
The Italian tender by the Military Chemical Pharmaceutical Plant of Florence was for high THC content flowers for medical use
Tilray Portugal also put forward a bid for the tender but was unsuccessful as it did not provide “the requirement of packaging the product in denominations of 5-10 g; and did not submit a GMP certificate from the laboratory involved in the pesticide test; has not submitted a declaration of non-use of pesticides and/or fumigants” according to the Commission. [translated from Google]
Read more: First Denmark cannabis shipment reaches Australia’s Little Green Pharma
It added: “On the basis of the proposed shelf life of six months it is obviously not able to guarantee the supply of a product which upon receipt by the Client presents a minimum of six months of residual validity.” [translated from Google]
Italian government tenders have some of the highest GMP product quality standards globally.
LGP has stated that the shipment will be of historic inventory acquired as part of LGP’s purchase of its Danish Facility from Canopy Growth. The company has now supplied products into Germany, France, the UK and Denmark and is continuing the progression of product registration pathways into Greece and Poland.
Both companies have been approached for comment.
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