Australian Natural Therapeutics Group (ANTG) has purchased a cultivation and manufacturing facility in Brisbane, a move the company says will help relieve production pressures facing the local medicinal cannabis sector.
The site will double ANTG's cultivation capacity and quadruple its manufacturing output, chief executive Matt Cantelo said in an interview.
He said the expansion will allow the company to increase production of its own medicines, offer additional formats of its existing strains, and take on third-party manufacturing work.
"One of the problems for our industry is the bottlenecks from a production and manufacturing point of view," he said. "Products are getting to a certain point, but when further processes are required, be it a manufacturing step or packaging and labelling, there tend to be bottlenecks.
"By acquiring this facility we are unblocking that bottleneck. We will have the ability to process all of our material, which we haven't been able to do to date, and offer our services to the outside industry."
The facility, which includes "multiple" indoor cultivation rooms and 14 Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) areas, was originally built for Rapid Growth, a company established in 2018 that operated under the trading name Pure Cannabis Australia.
Last December, Rapid Growth became the first medicinal cannabis firm to have its licences suspended by the Office of Drug Control (ODC). That six-month suspension — imposed for reasons the ODC did not disclose — was lifted at the end of May, after which negotiations with ANTG got underway.
"It was purpose-built and brand spanking new, but had not been put to too much use," Cantelo said. "It's a state-of-the-art facility and we haven't had to do a thing to it. We were very impressed."
The purchase price was not disclosed. The acquisition opens the door for ANTG to produce a wider range of formats beyond flower and oils.
Day-to-day operations at the facility will be led by Andrew Cormack, the former head of production at MediPharm Labs, who came on board at ANTG in October.
"We've got the equipment and we have the skillset," Cantelo said. "All of our oils are registered in the market so we grow that product, we manufacture that product, we bottle and label so we don't have any external parties. We've been working on that for 18 months.
"Now we have the ability to commercialise that on a larger scale and that's what we are really excited about."
Beyond the company's existing dried flower and oil products, Cantelo said the new manufacturing capabilities will likely centre on edibles and vaporisation.
While noting the growing investment in soft gels by players such as Althea and Cann Group, he said ANTG remains uncertain about that format's merits.
"We're not too sure about the technology that is involved and we're looking into it further, but if you look at more mature markets around the world, soft gels haven't got significant market share," he said.
"Even though some companies are working on technology to improve bioavailability, I think that is one issue. But I also believe traditional ways of consuming cannabis are still intrinsic in society and that is not going to change for some little while."
He said an edible "is just as effective" as a soft gel and gives patients an alternative to dried herbs or vaporisation.
Distillates in battery-powered cartridges will also feature in the product range as ANTG works toward offering multiple formats across each of its strains.
"These devices are easier than using dried herb so the convenience factor will play a big part," he said. "It's an increasing category in medical markets and is probably taking over as one of the main formats in the mature adult-use markets of California and Colorado."
Cantelo said ANTG aims to offer a range of formats "so patients can choose what suits them best".
"We will listen to the market, we'll listen to doctors, patients and the community," he added. "We want to make sure our products represent what they want, in addition to what we are seeing from demand."
Beyond the gains in cultivation and manufacturing capacity, the Brisbane facility will also allow ANTG to grow its breeding program, which is currently based at Pitt Town in New South Wales.
"We want to constantly provide the market with innovative and up-to-date strains for particular conditions and the new facility will allow us to do that," Cantelo said.
