Cannatrek has received Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) accreditation from the TGA.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
Shepparton’s developing cannabis business will become part of an overseas study after an international agreement was signed by Cannatrek.
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The pharmaceutical company is processing medicinal cannabis in Shepparton and is planning to grow cannabis crops near the city.
Plans to grow the first commercial crop were interrupted by bad weather last spring, but Cannatrek hopes to have a crop in the ground this year.
The company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mie University in Tsu, Japan, to forge an open collaboration focused on accelerating medical research into the use of cannabis.
The strategic partnership marks the first-ever MoU for medicinal cannabis research between any Australian and Japanese organisation or government.
University representatives visited Shepparton in November.
The company hopes to capitalise on the Japanese Government’s recent change in stance towards the use of cannabis with the Lower House passing the bill to legalise the use of medical products made from cannabis in mid-November.
“We are honoured to be the first Australian business to have a MoU for medicinal cannabis research with a Japanese organisation,” Cannatrek chief executive officer Tommy Huppert said.
“Cannatrek has the manufacturing capability to supply the highest quality of medicinal cannabis products for domestic and international markets via our Shepparton facility,” he said.
“The facility recently received Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) accreditation which further enhances export opportunities.”
Under the MoU, the framework for cooperation encompasses several key areas including agronomic research, training resources for clinicians, pharmaceutical supply chain, e-healthcare, navigating regulation and compliance and connecting experts in the field.
Cannatrek chief executive Tommy Huppert.
Photo by
Geoff Adams
The company, with manufacturing sites in Queensland and Victoria, more than doubled its revenue to $90 million in 2022-23, from $41.9 million a year earlier, placing it second on this year’s AFR Fast 100 list.
Mr Huppert said treatment was only legalised in 2016, meaning a legal avenue to medicinal cannabis in Australia has only been available for a short time.
“This is very significant because Japan is the third biggest pharmaceutical market in the world.”
The development was particularly interesting to Mr Huppert, who lived and worked in Japan for 10 years and has learnt the language.
He said cannabis use had a historical connection to the Shinto religion, prevalent in Japan.
Cannabis hemp fibres were used by Shinto priests for ritual cleansing and to exorcise evil spirits, a practice that continues to the present day.
Cannatrek was established in 2016 after the Federal Government legislated to allow the use of medicinal cannabis. It secured federal and state licences to cultivate products in 2018.
The company has a workforce of 130 people. It has three Melbourne offices, and cultivation and manufacturing centres in Queensland and at Shepparton.
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