The UK boasts one of many fastest-growing medical hashish markets on the planet, and in keeping with Prohibition Companions’ International Hashish Report: fifth Version, round 60,000 sufferers had been handled with medical hashish within the UK all through 2024.
Nonetheless, in contrast to markets reminiscent of Germany, the place development has been pushed by a serious regulatory change, the UK’s development is pushed nearly solely by its operators and their continued dedication to innovation.
One such firm, Curaleaf Laboratories, has invested considerably within the UK and its state-of-the-art facility in Sunderland, now the nation’s largest medical hashish processing website, using round 200 workers.
Enterprise of Hashish was given the chance to discover this facility, taking a uncommon look behind the scenes on the know-how, course of and ethos of Curaleaf Laboratories.
‘Affected person Obsession’
Its facility, located close to the banks of the River Put on, initially centered on creating bespoke, various medicines as a ‘specials’ producer.
Their MHRA-approved and NHS-accredited facility manufactured and equipped a full vary of unlicensed medicines throughout the UK, to over 3,000 NHS and personal healthcare suppliers.
Having been a premium provider of specials for over a decade, its founding companions, brothers Jonathan and Richard Hodgson, tailored to market modifications and started specializing in the medical hashish trade. The corporate was acquired by Curaleaf in 2019, earlier than turning into the primary producer of full-spectrum medical hashish within the UK.
Now Curaleaf Worldwide’s UK managing director, reflecting on the journey to this point, from their humble North East beginnings to having a global, vertically built-in provide chain delivering cannabis-based medicinal merchandise (CBPMs), Jonathan Hodgson mentioned: “Since becoming a member of the Curaleaf Worldwide group, our journey on turning into the chief within the UK medical hashish trade has been nothing wanting unimaginable.
“Our UK operations, in addition to our vertical provide chain and NPD operate have allowed Curaleaf to widen entry within the UK for each healthcare professionals and sufferers alike. The introduction of revolutionary dosage codecs, manufacturers and third occasion distribution partnerships has continued to raise Curaleaf right into a management place within the UK that focuses on accelerating entry.”
It’s clear that Hodgson has succeeded in instilling his ardour amongst his ever-expanding workforce.
As we toured the varied manufacturing, processing, packing and distribution areas, we had been greeted with a smile by each workers member, all of whom spoke enthusiastically about their position and had a transparent understanding of the corporate’s imaginative and prescient and mission.
“It’s fulfilling to come back to work day-after-day understanding that you simply’re serving to to get this drugs to the individuals who really want it. It’s good to assume what we do right here is having a optimistic influence on their high quality of life,” one workers member advised us as they oversaw the packing of dried medical hashish flower into 10-gram pouches.
This mission, we’re advised, is primarily to widen affected person entry within the UK and Europe, not simply by offering a various vary of merchandise that may doubtlessly assist sufferers but in addition an efficient roster enabling prescribing medical doctors to make the perfect medical choices doable.
As such, whereas on-site in Sunderland, Curaleaf’s R&D/NPD groups had been testing out new formulations and flavours of its market-leading pastilles.
The abundance of take a look at trays of pastilles pointed to a relentless pursuit of excellence, with solely the perfect making it by way of improvement, in what the corporate described as a ‘affected person obsession.’
Investing in Innovation
Curaleaf Pharmacy, additionally primarily based on the Sunderland website, dispenses extra medical hashish prescriptions than another pharmacy within the UK, and now serves a number of third-party clinics.
This pursuit of excellence is bolstered by a continued give attention to and funding in know-how and innovation, embodied by a 4m tall and 11m lengthy automated prescription shelling out system. Successfully a large robotic purpose-built to make sure sufferers obtain their prescriptions as shortly as doable.
Adam Foster, superintendent pharmacist & head of pharmacy operations for Curaleaf Pharmacy, tells us his staff are actually shelling out 1000 or extra prescriptions each single day for sufferers throughout the UK: a quantity that’s set to extend considerably when its automated shelling out machine is totally operational.
He advised Enterprise of Hashish: “On the coronary heart of all of our operational and technological developments , we have now a patient-centric staff that pleasure themselves on delivering a best-in-class shelling out service.
“The rise in our operational capability allows us to handle extra sufferers and extra prescriptions every day. In addition to this, our various product formulary has additionally resulted in additional third occasion personal clinics sending their sufferers to Curaleaf Pharmacy, which we’re extraordinarily eager to proceed bettering upon.”
In addition to offering its personal vary of medical hashish merchandise, Curaleaf Laboratories works with numerous companies that share the identical imaginative and prescient and profit from the corporate’s means to import bulk uncooked materials and ship a best-in-class manufacturing and distribution mannequin.
The corporate’s product portfolio goes past conventional choices, introducing superior supply methods with a view to opening the door for as many new affected person demographics as doable.
As Curaleaf Laboratories seems to be to the long run, it plans to proceed increasing its technological capabilities, rolling out new merchandise, and additional refining its operations, with a driving give attention to contributing to accelerated development of the broader trade and bettering affected person entry.
