Medicinal cannabis: The sector’s slow maturation in Greece and those who “see” opportunities

Although it started with “investment in joints” – as Adonis Georgiadis said in 2018 – the medical cannabis market aspires to develop into the new trend of the business scene.

The Minister of Development regretted that quip, as he admitted at yesterday’s inauguration of the Tikun Olam unit in Εxamilia Corinthia, giving credit to the pioneer Nikos Karanikas, advisor to the then Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

For his part, Mr. Karanikas, who played a leading role in paving the way for the legalization of the production and sale of medicinal cannabis in Greece, returned the compliments with emotion, while he told OT that “Adonis [Georgiadis] did what Xanthos [former SYRIZA minister] did not » referring to the improvements of the legislative framework.

Vassilis Milionis, known from the scandal of Energa – Hellas Power, was added to the list of “misunderstood”, related to the medicinal cannabis market in Greece, who was acquitted. He is said to be involved in Tikun Olam.

In fact, Adonis Georgiadis personally addressed Mr. Milionis, saying that he has had a difficult time and that he was unfairly criticized.

The slow maturation

The goals for the new market are particularly lofty, with many expressing the certainty that in the medium term it can reach 350 million euros per year, which is the turnover of the developed market of Israel.

However, for now growth is stable but relatively slow.

First-ever medicinal cannabis production plant opens in Greece

In particular, only two companies so far have managed to complete their investments up to commercial operation and obtain a production license.

In addition to the Israeli company Tikun Olam in Corinth, an investment that exceeded 40 million euros, a smaller unit has also been inaugurated, in Kilkis, with a budget of 6.5 million euros. It is Hellenic Dynamic, of Greek-Indian interests, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange a month ago through a “shell company”.

At the same time, according to the latest data available from the General Secretariat of Industry, there are 135 approvals for the establishment of units for the cultivation, processing, and production of finished medicinal cannabis products.

Despite this, the investments worth more than 2 billion euros, which will create 11,000 new jobs, as it appears from the plans that have been submitted to the Ministry of Development over the last 5 years, are not proceeding at a fast pace.

In particular, most permit requests, namely 33, concern the Region of Central Greece, 27 have been given to the Region of Central Macedonia with the most in the Prefecture of Klikis, 24 to the Region of Thessaly, 18 to the Region of Peloponnese, 15 to the Region of Western Greece and 5 in the Region of Western Macedonia.

In the Regions of Eastern Macedonia – Thrace, Epirus and Crete, 4 licenses have been given, while 2 in the Region of Attica and 1 in the Region of the South Aegean, specifically in the Cyclades.

The European medical cannabis market is predicted to grow at an annual rate of 21.96% in the period 2022 – 2027 and from 4.96 billion dollars in 2022 it will reach 13.37 billion dollars in 2027.

Globally, this market is estimated to reach $44.2 billion in 2022.

12 products with two providers

The first of a total of 12 products ( double line prescription as for opioid dispensation) medicinal cannabis products will be launched on the Greek market by Tikun Olam this September, with the company currently in pilot production at 20-30% of its capacity.

It is noted that currently only nutritional supplements have been released.

The production capacity of the factory in Corinth, which is among the most modern in Europe in its category, amounts to 10 tons per year.

In addition to the Greek market, the company also aims for export activity mainly in Europe.

It recently entered into two strategic partnerships with the pharmaceutical companies Farmaserve Hellas and Lavipharm, which have undertaken the distribution and marketing of a total of 12 codes in Greece.

The products will be distributed under different names by the two pharmaceutical companies.

As mentioned by Nikos Beis, managing director of Tikun Europe, it took five years of hard work to complete this important investment, which will offer multiple benefits, both to patients and to the local and national economy.

He particularly focused on the benefits that the new investment will create for cancer and kidney pain, as well as for patients with multiple sclerosis and others diseases. In addition, in the current phase, laboratory tests are being carried out and the effectiveness of cannabis products is tested in a number of other diseases such as epilepsy, autism, Chron’s disease and others.