Bedrocan, one among Europe’s largest and longest-running suppliers of pharmaceutical and medical hashish, has introduced plans to commercialise a brand new high-CBD pressure of hashish, Bedrolina.
This launch will see the corporate considerably broaden its operations in Denmark, launching a model new indoor manufacturing facility within the nation and starting outside cultivation for the primary time in its historical past.
Its enlargement into Europe comes as the corporate additionally appears to broaden its operations throughout the Atlantic, saying that it’s set to return to Canada for the primary time since 2016, when it offered its operations to Cover Development.
Bedrocan’s Industrial Director, Varun Arora, informed Enterprise of Hashish: “Primarily, we see ourselves as a contract manufacturing organisation (CMO), working with the Dutch authorities for over 20 years, and we now purpose to supply comparable providers to the pharmaceutical trade.
“Now we have at all times specialised in rising standardised hashish, and whereas there are a lot of cultivators throughout Europe and elsewhere, we’ve been worthwhile for over 20 years, setting us aside.”
Bedrolina
Final month, Bedrocan introduced plans to ‘commercialise’ Bedrolina, a pressure of hashish that incorporates round 14% CBD and fewer than 1% THC.
That is reportedly in response to rising demand for high-CBD strains of hashish, with the bulk at present in the marketplace being grown in an open subject, making it decrease in CBD content material and unsuitable for pharmaceutical functions.
As such, Bedrocan has constructed a devoted manufacturing facility in Denmark, which it expects to be operational by Q1 subsequent 12 months.
In response to Mr Arora, basing its facility in Denmark will permit the corporate to function with out the intervention of its native Dutch authorities.
The Opium Act (Opiumwet) is the first laws within the Netherlands regulating the management and classification of narcotics.
Whereas the Netherlands has allowed the manufacturing, prescription and sale of medical hashish since 2003 by introducing exemptions to the Opium Act, medical hashish continues to be thought of a ‘Record II’ substance and is tightly regulated.
Bedrocan has operated as a government-approved hashish producer within the nation for a while, supplying pharmaceutical-grade merchandise to sufferers via pharmacies, however is now in search of to additional broaden its operations abroad.
“The federal government solely permits us to supply 5 varieties below the framework settlement, with none amendments to product kind. Primarily, we will solely domesticate for one consumer: the Dutch authorities’s Workplace of Medicinal Hashish. Nonetheless, we’re allowed to conduct R&D actions, equivalent to exploring different strains and product kinds, which is one thing we do at Bedrocan and different firms within the ecosystem,” Mr Arora defined.
He continued that Bedrocan determined to search for a 3rd high-CBD pressure (the others being Bediol with a ratio of THC 6.3% and CBD 8% and Bedrolite with lower than 1% THC and seven.5% CBD) for 2 causes.
Primarily, discovering a pressure with high-CBD content material is ‘extremely tough’, as elevating the extent of CBD usually additionally raises the THC degree.
“Most hemp, which stays under the 0.3% THC threshold, by no means exams above 4–5% CBD. After in depth work, we managed to stabilise a genetic selection that’s significantly enticing for extractors.”
For much less potent strains equivalent to Bedrolite, it requires ‘a number of materials’ to supply extracts.
“R&D on this new pressure took a couple of years, and we stabilised it about two and a half years in the past. Sadly, we couldn’t do a lot with it resulting from Dutch laws. The principle purpose was to create a spread with a better cannabinoid content material to make extraction extra environment friendly, in comparison with present processes, the place most merchandise are compounded in pharmacies.”
Denmark
Bedrocan’s merchandise have been accessible in Denmark since 2018, once they had been registered by CanGross Aps within the nation’s inaugural medical hashish pilot scheme, resulting from run till 2025.
The pilot programme permits all medical doctors in Denmark to prescribe with out the necessity for specialisation, particular coaching, or particular certification. Bedrocan through the OMC now presents three separate SKUs within the scheme, that are classed as ‘natural teas’ and offered in 5g packages.
Nonetheless, with the enlargement of its foothold out there, Bedrocan is hoping to profit from higher freedoms allowed by the Danish regulatory system, enabling ‘extra management over (its) operations’.
Whereas Bedrocan has been capable of constantly export between 3.4 and three.8 tonnes (together with 1.7 to 2.1 tonnes in Germany) of product from the Netherlands yearly, provide chain bottlenecks and patchy management over imports imply the medical hashish market is essentially stunted.
“We had been hoping for modifications in Dutch coverage, particularly since 2020 when the federal government employed a consulting firm to offer suggestions, which echoed what many within the trade have been saying for years.
“Nonetheless, we determined we wanted to take extra management over our operations, and Denmark was a perfect choice. It presents extra regulatory freedom than the Netherlands, whereas nonetheless sustaining a tightly managed regulatory regime, correctly for a managed substance. The regulatory regime in Denmark was interesting to us, and there have been operational concerns as effectively.”
After starting its seek for a manufacturing web site in 2022, selecting to construct its personal web site with a view to accommodate its exacting cultivation strategies, the ability is now ‘near being operational’, with the primary merchandise anticipated from the ability ‘across the finish of Q1’ 2025.
“Denmark permits us extra flexibility to work with totally different varieties, and we’re open to potential companions who might want us to supply their strains. A few of the issues we couldn’t do within the Netherlands will now be attainable in Denmark. As an example, we may produce varieties like Bedrolina, amongst others, below this extra versatile system.”
Bedrocan can also be planning to launch an outside cultivation operation for the primary time, with the outside biomass primarily focusing on the cosmetics trade.
That is once more geared toward addressing the rising demand for CBD, partially because of the inclusion of naturally derived cannabidiol within the Cosing (Frequent beauty ingredient ) database that lists all substances authorised in cosmetics.
As CBD utilized in cosmetics is a ‘very, very processed product, generally over 99% purity’, Mr Arora suggests there may be ‘worth in cultivating outside extra cheaply’.
Nonetheless, he’s eager to make clear that it is a ‘utterly totally different venture’ to the indoor operations, which is able to focus strictly on the medical market.
