South of Scotland Enterprise, a Scottish company that provides funding to Australian companies Bioxyne and South of Scotland Enterprise for the establishment of a UK-based medicinal cannabis production facility.
Bioxyne Is the parent company for the Breathe Life Sciences GroupThe company focuses on psychotropic and investigational medicines, health technology and new consumer products. In addition to its Australian operations, the company also has offices in Japan, Germany, Czechia, United Kingdom and United States.
The company announced yesterday that through Breathe Life Sciences UK Ltd (BLSUK), the company had received ~£850,000 in funding commitments from SOSE, which is the economic development agency for the South of Scotland.
The SOSE commitment consists of a five-year £500,000 loan facility and a grant award of £348,250.
Breathe Australia’s Australian manufacturing facility is the same size as the GMP site that has been chosen in Scottish Borders. The project, which will be an important provider of production and distribution services for the UK medicinal marijuana market, is also expected to create a large number of jobs in the Scottish Borders area.
Sam Watson, Bioxyne’s CEO said: “The existing infrastructure in UK cannot keep pace with demand. BLSUK has an excellent opportunity to join the market and grow.” BLSUK’s UK customers are growing, so establishing a UK facility was critical for us to offer our quality and service standards, as well as replicating Australia’s success.
Next year, the site will be fully fitted out and applications for licences with the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and Home Offices (MHRA).
In other recent news from Bioxyne, the company announced early this month via Breathe Life Sciences it had inked an exclusive import, manufacture and supply agreement with Curaleaf International for Australia involving Curaleaf’s medicinal cannabis inhaler and cartridges in Australia.
A request has been made to Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration, which approved the importation of vaping goods subject to a permit issued by Office of Drug Control for Vaping Goods.
Watson made the following comments about that transaction:
This collaboration is an important step towards expanding the availability of regulated and medically-compliant inhalation technologies in Australia. This arrangement enhances Bioxyne’s position in the medical devices sector, and supports Bioxyne’s commitment to ensure that high-quality delivery systems comply with Australian therapeutic guidelines.
Curaleaf International, which is part of Curaleaf Holdings Inc. a cannabis company based in America that specializes in medical marijuana and cannabis for adult users.