Tilray to produce medical cannabis in Portugal

A happy coincidence. Yesterday we were talking about international development of canadian companies in the medical cannabis sector. Tilray, one of Canada's leading therapeutic cannabis research and cultivation companies, has just announced its intention to invest 20 million euros in a European campus, after receiving authorization from the Portuguese government to import its genetics (seeds and clones) and grow medical cannabis.

«Tilray's European campus is another strategic step in our goal to become the safest and most respected medical cannabis brand,» explains Tilray CEO Brendan Kennedy in the release.

«Over the past two years, we've worked hard to find the right place to grow, process and research, and thus supply the growing demand for quality medical cannabis products in Europe. Portugal has the ideal climate for growing cannabis, a highly skilled medical workforce and a vibrant scientific community. It's more environmentally friendly and cost-effective to supply European patients from Portugal than from climates further north.»

Launch in 2018

Through its Portuguese subsidiary, Tilray will invest 20 million euros in several buildings around the Cantanhede Research Park (220 km north of Lisbon).

The campus will include outdoor, indoor and greenhouse cultivation sites (10,000m² for the latter initially, with a target of 25,000m²), as well as the facilities needed to process, package and distribute cannabinoid-derived medical products. The project should be up and running by spring 2018, employing 100 people. Tilray is already planning to double the size of its campus by 2020.

Tilray's worldwide production will reach 62 tons per year by the end of 2018. Tilray estimates that the medical cannabis market in Europe could reach 10 million patients and generate more than €40 billion in revenues per year.

Tilray is owned by Privateer Holdings, which also owns on the Leafly website and the Marley Natural. Its CEO, Brendan Kennedy, spoke at the Web Summit, one of Europe's largest web conferences, in Lisbon in November 2016.

Portugal already grows medical cannabis and opium

Tilray chose Portugal not only because of its climate, but also because it's not a newcomer. The Terra Verde company is already growing for GW Pharmaceuticals, the British company that manufactures and markets the Sativex.

The country also grows around 1,500 hectares of opium poppies in the same Alentejo region.

Another cannabis cultivation project is in the process of being approved by Infarmed, the Portuguese institute of pharmacy and medicine, this time from Israel.