Chamber welcomes first EU GMP approved Medical Cannabis companies

The Malta Chamber has celebrated the first awards of EU Good Manufacturing Practice (EU GMP) certifications to two Medical Cannabis companies based in Malta, with a third set to join them.

"The Malta Chamber welcomes this ground-breaking achievement and the priority given to this sector to ensure its competitiveness worldwide", it said.

Speaking as ASG Pharma and ZenPharm have been granted the certification, with Materia Ltd currently under assessment, the Chamber said that the achievements arose from its setting up of a Business Section on Medical Cannabis a year ago.

"The Executive Committee was relentless in discussing opportunities and ways to optimise the licensing process to make the sector a true success and competitive enough globally, thus arriving at the opportunity of exporting a gold standard medicinal product produced locally and effectively contributing to Malta's GDP growth", the Chamber explained.

Discussions were held regularly with Energy Minister Miriam Dalli, Malta Enterprise CEO Kurt Farrugia, Parliamentary Secretary for Consumer Protection Deo Debattista, and "most importantly" with Chairman of the Malta Medicines Authority Anthony Serracino Inglott.

The EU GMP certification is notable as the the minimum standard that a medicines manufacturer must meet in their production processes, therefore, only companies granted with these certifications can bring products to market in the EU.

Aside from the aforementioned developments, in recent months the first European medical cannabis tech accelerator was launched in Malta.

With up to €2.5 million in funding made available by Malta Enterprise, the TechforCannEU accelerator program aims to allow entrepreneurs to reach milestones faster, with less error and expense, ultimately increasing their probability of commercial success.