The Malta Medicines Authority has issued Materia Malta a licence to produce cannabis, allowing the company to start operations at its annual 6,000kg-capacity Ħal Far facility.

The receipt of the Licence for the Production of Cannabis for Medicinal and Research Purposes was the final requirement for Materia Malta Operating Ltd to begin commercial production and export of medical cannabis.

The licence, obtained on Monday, clears the way for Materia Malta to begin generating revenues at its Ħal Far facility, which is already EU Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certified.

The facility has an annual throughput capacity of 6,000kg, representing a potential sale value of €36 million, based on a blended average sales price across several key European markets.

Deepak Anand, CEO of Materia, congratulated the entire team for helping to realise the company’s vision of a state-of-the-art processing facility, “especially in working through the circumstances presented by the pandemic over the last 18 months”.

Materia Malta has already begun the process of importing its first batch of raw material for commercial production and will begin fulfilment of its supply commitments imminently, starting with the initial target markets of Germany, Malta and the UK.

The first product has already been successfully registered on the narcotics licence of Materia Deutschland GmbH ahead of its import into and across Germany.

“As happy as we are to secure our licence, we immediately begin execution on the next phase of our plan,” commented Nick Pateras, Managing Director Europe, at Materia.

Materia Europe Managing Director Nick Pateras

“We now have a fully built and licensed pathway into the European market for cultivation partners all over the world,” he said.

“This encompasses our in-house processing expertise in Malta on top of our distribution capabilities into and across Germany, Europe’s biggest market, through Materia Deutschland.”

Malta Enterprise CEO Kurt Farruga said the agency was delighted to see Materia achieve this milestone.

“We have been working closely with Materia since the beginning and the calibre of the team exemplifies the type of company we are proud to support here in Malta. We fully expect Materia to be one of the industry’s long-term leaders.”

About Materia

Materia is a leading independent processor and distributor of medical cannabis and CBD wellness products. Materia has developed a robust EU-GMP manufacturing and distribution ecosystem to grow the legal cannabinoid market across Europe.

With its research-driven team and regulatory expertise, Materia focuses on the high-margin downstream activities of processing, formulation and distribution into markets wherever there is a patient in need of cannabis medicine or CBD consumers seeking innovative new products.