The Ministry of Health has granted a licence to cultivate cannabis to New Zealand-owned biotechnology company Helius Therapeutics, the first licence to be issued in Auckland.
The Kiwi start-up has been granted a licence to cultivate cannabis plants at its East Tamaki facility and says it's the largest licensed site in the country.
The licence allows the company to establish a cannabis breeding programme and develop new cannabis plant varieties - chemovars - for use in the research and development of therapeutics.
The licence also allows the company to cultivate cannabis plants across two large-scale grow sites and nursery within its Auckland property.
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| The Ministry of Health has granted a licence to Helius Therapeutics to cultivate cannabis plant varieties for use in the research and development of therapeutics. |
Helius says having secured $15m in investment, led by Kiwi tech billionaire Guy Haddleton, it expects to complete the next stage of its facility by May 2019.
Executive Director and co-founder of Helius, Paul Manning, says the licence grant is a major milestone for the company, having already achieved a lot in 2018.
“Securing our cultivation licence is the result of nearly a year’s work and a significant financial investment. Our licence allows us to shift up a gear, move into the next phase of development and commence cultivating thousands of plants here in Auckland," he said.
The Ministry of Health approaches each licence application on a case-by-case basis, Mr Manning said.
"Our objective was to align our cultivation licence to our strategy, and that is to leverage our scale and research partnerships to develop quality, novel, locally-produced medicinal cannabis products that are affordable for New Zealanders," he said.
“Our ambition is to develop Helius into one of the world’s premier medicinal cannabis brands - from New Zealand. Our local industry has enormous potential with deep experience in science, horticulture and technology.”
“We’re an early-mover and we plan to stay ahead of this nascent industry. We want to bring safe and effective products to market as soon as possible. Hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders stand to benefit from medicinal cannabis and, for many, we hold the key to improved quality of life," he said.
Helius has developed two clinical trials which will be conducted in New Zealand and the company says it has has committed to an extensive research and development plan.
Early product development will target sleep disorders, anxiety, arthritis and chronic pain.
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| Helius Therapeutics medicinal cannabis plant |
The company has formed relationships with local and international research institutes and is set to open its own cannabinoid research laboratory in 2019.
Helius Therapeutics has also announced the acquisition of an additional 10,000 square metre hydroponic greenhouse on a 20 acre site in Kumeu, Auckland. The company says it plans to grow a high-cannabidiol cannabis chemovar in this controlled greenhouse environment.
The Kumeu site is in addition to the company’s existing licenced facility in East Tamaki, which will cultivate a combination of cannabidiol and THC-dominant varieties.
Cannabis biomass from the cultivation site in Kumeu will eventually be processed at the company’s East Tamaki facility for extraction, research and manufacturing.