Israeli medical cannabis company Together (TASE: TGDR) has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to market and distribute medical cannabis products in the Brazilian market, through a partner who will be responsible for receiving the required approvals to import medical cannabis products for sale in the country. The company plans to focus on selling enriched CBD oils for treating epilepsy.
Together CEO Nissim Bracha said, "The Brazilian market is an enormous market with a population that is 20 times larger than Israel so that we see major economic potential in Brazil to generate revenue from medical cannabis oils, while expanding our international presence. We are currently completing the construction of a factory for manufacturing medical cannabis products in Ashkelon next to the farm. We will allocate a special area for producing GMP products, adapted to the regulation required in Brazil, which permits imports but does not allow local cultivation, thus opening up a big business opportunity for us."
Brazil has approved the setting up of the medical cannabis sector as part of which patients can buy cannabis products in pharmacies, and for the first time use cannabis legally with a medical prescription. However, the proposal to also build cultivation and production facilities in the country has been rejected, so that most of the cannabis is imported from abroad, without importing the plants' ingredients, only as a finished product or raw material from source.
The company estimates that developing the medical cannabis sector in Brazil can make Brazil into the world's largest market for importing cannabis. The sector is working on a 'pilot' format for three years, after which the situation will be reviewed. Marketing of cannabis-based cosmetics and food products will not be allowed. Brazil has a population of more than 200 million. On average, two years after a country approves medical cannabis, 1% of the population have used a prescription. In the case of Brazil, it can be assumed that within two years there will be two million medical cannabis users. There are 1.9 million epilepsy sufferers in Brazil for whom CBD treatment from medical cannabis would serve as a treatment.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 3, 2020 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2020