Irish patients using Althea's CBD12:THC10 cannabis oil for two approved conditions will receive the medication at no cost from August 1, a development chief executive Josh Fegan has called a "big development" for cannabis.
The 50ml product will be covered under Ireland's Primary Care Reimbursement Service for patients managing spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis, and for chemotherapy-induced intractable nausea and vomiting.
Eligibility for both conditions requires that standard treatments have already been tried without success.
The reimbursement price agreed for the oil is €327.89 (A$540).
"Any receipt of full reimbursement for a medicine in the pharmaceutical industry is a big development, even more so when the medicine is cannabis based," Fegan said. "Our medical affairs team worked closely with the Irish regulator over the last year to make the reimbursement possible and this is a great result for them as well as patients and doctors in Ireland."
Fegan added that Althea has submitted an application for a second product, Althea THC20:CBD1, to be included on Ireland's reimbursed medicines list.
Cann Group
Cann Group has reported a harvest that is double its previous record, which the company described as a "key step" toward its annual production goal of 12.5 tonnes of cannabis.
The crop covered more than 320 square metres and translates to an annualised production rate of eight tonnes.
Cann Group said the yield of the "high quality dry flower" came in 17% above its target.
Chief executive Peter Koetsier called it a "tremendous achievement" that gives "strong confidence" in the company's capacity to reach the 12.5 tonne target.
"The improvement in flower quality underscores the value of our focus on cultivation processes and the investment we have made in leading-edge technology at Mildura," he said. "We will continue to scale up production over coming months, reinforcing our competitive advantage and keeping us on the path to EBITDA profitability."
Cann Group shares rose 4% during Monday's session, closing at $0.130c.
Greenfern Industries
New Zealand-based Greenfern has brought the first of its two new grow rooms online, with the second expected to be operational "in the next few weeks".
The expansion will enable the company to stagger its harvests, with each room forecast to produce four or five harvests annually, yielding between 200 and 250kg of flower.
The construction of both rooms followed a capital raise conducted at the end of 2022.
Managing director Dan Casey confirmed the first grow room has been stocked with 300 plants.
"While the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) installation has been a difficult, yet critical, piece of the infrastructure, we are now happy with how the environmental climate is controlled within the first room and will be excited to see the progress of the medicinal cannabis plants through their lifecycle," he said.
Greenfern must now replicate the performance of its test facility — which achieved stringent European Pharmacopoeia standards for inhalation microbial counts without requiring irradiation treatment — within the larger commercial space.
Chairman Marvin Yee said: "This milestone marks Greenfern as being one of the New Zealand companies actually producing cannabis in New Zealand.
"We are excited at this opportunity and foresee cultivation being a strong line of business for our group."
