Aurora Cannabis conquers Europe

Canadian producer Aurora Cannabis announced yesterday through its subsidiary Aurora Europe GmbH that the company had been selected as an official supplier of medical cannabis by the Luxembourg Ministry of Health. The latter placed an initial order for 20kg. Neil Belot, in charge of Business Development at Aurora said: «It's proof of the trust we've earned from governments and regulators around the world».

Aurora conquers Europe

This is not the first time the company has been commissioned by a European government: it also supplies the Italian government through its partner, the German distributor Pedanios. In Italy, both the production and distribution of medical cannabis are handled by the Ministry of Defense, but with production too low to meet demand, the government decided to seek external recourse - or rather, recourse. Pedanios is the only company working with the Italian army, giving Aurora a privileged position in supplying the Italian medical cannabis market, but it is only one of 7 companies authorized to produce cannabis for Italy.

At the end of October, the Polish Ministry of Health approved the first shipment of medical cannabis to Poland. Aurora Deutschland has since been sending its products to a Warsaw hospital. This is the first time the government has authorized a private company to supply its domestic market. The company also recently celebrated its first shipment of medical cannabis to the Czech Republic. It supplies the specialist distributor Czech Medical Herbs which in turn supplies the country's pharmacies.

«We're proud to be trusted partners of wholesale distributors and governments across Europe, and we look forward to increasing our influence in this fast-growing market, where we have the advantage of having positioned ourselves early on,» explains Maximilian Weinberg, Managing Director, Weinberg. Business Development à Aurora Europe GmbH.

Aurora has made a name for itself on the European market, with governments and distributors trusting in the quality of its products. In all, Aurora is active in 22 countries, 7 of which are in the European Union, where more and more medical cannabis programs are appearing, but where the shortage of domestic production is leading countries to import. «We look forward to supplying patients in need in what will now be the 7th country where we export plants or products to help meet growing demand,» says Neil Belot.

Aurora's production facilities are vertically integrated, from cannabis cultivation to medicine production, and horizontally diversified: hemp, by-products, wholesale and retail, as well as technology, breeding and genetic research. The company has more than 15 subsidiaries in various cannabis sectors. It has just acquired its Canadian rival MedReleaf for $2.5 billion. The company inherits Aurora's production facilities. The merger brings Aurora's production capacity to 570,000kg per year.

Based in the province of Alberta, Canada, the company's parent facilities alone are capable of producing 500,000kg per year. What's more, they are high-tech, with production almost entirely automated, enabling high output at low cost per gram. They comply with European standards and can be replicated. Aurora also intends to set up production sites in Europe, probably in Malta.