She said the deal means that New Zealand now has a big integrated cannabis player that can work with New Zealand growers, scale up manufacturing and production of cannabis medicinal products and therapeutics, and drive exports to the world.
Ora Pharm CEO Zoe Reece says the purchase of Helius Therapeutics will transform her company. Photo / Michael Craig
To date, there has been very limited capacity for pharmaceutical-grade cannabis oil extraction in New Zealand; Ora has no current commercial cannabis oil extraction.
Ora said this will now change and will provide a major boost to growers.
“This means we can start scaling up production and export sooner,” she told the Herald.
Waikato-based Ora currently has licences to purchase product from New Zealand growers and, beyond selling to the domestic market, exports only bulk dried flower to Australia.
Reece said the company’s sights are now set on pushing into Europe.
The Helius pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Auckland is EU GMP-certified and meets the minimum standards that a medicines manufacturer must meet to sell its products into the European Union.
The backdrop to the Ora deal is a New Zealand cannabis sector that has been utterly decimated.
Dozens of medical cannabis companies proliferated following the 2019 law change that legalised cannabis growing and manufacturing, but just a handful remain.
An expanded Ora Pharm will provide New Zealand cannabis growers with access to global export markets, CEO Zoe Reece says.
CannaSouth, Medical Kiwi (renamed Aether Pacific Pharmaceuticals), GreenFern Industries, MediCann and Cannakiwi have all collapsed in a wave of receiverships and liquidations in recent years.
The hurdles included the stiff and expensive regulatory hurdles set for the sector; high capital requirements; a tiny domestic market for cannabis products and slow medicinal uptake; black market competition; and the extreme optimism that suffused the sector’s first years.
Ora said important progress has been made in improving regulation. She said she took no issue with high standards but she welcomed Medsafe’s reduced processing times for export licences and changes that allow licensed medicinal cannabis cultivators to grow low-THC plants without an additional hemp licence.
Reece owns 60% of Ora shares. Ora’s US-based board chair Stuart Wilcox is the next-largest shareholder, with 6.7%. Wilcox is the former chief operating officer of US-based cannabis products giant Curaleaf.
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