New Zealand medicinal cannabis company, Rua Bioscience, has secured an export partnership with German distributor Nimbus Health.
Nimbus Health is an independent pharmaceutical wholesaler with warehouses near Frankfurt that specialises in the importation and distribution of medicinal cannabis products into Germany. The company provides pharmacies across Germany with pharmaceutical-grade medicinal cannabis products for patient prescriptions.
Rua Bioscience CEO, Rob Mitchell says, “Germany is Europe’s most mature medicinal cannabis market and we are proud to be the first New Zealand company to announce a binding export agreement with a reputable distributor there. Our agreement with Nimbus Health means Rua Bioscience is their exclusive New Zealand supplier and we are creating unique cannabis medicines together to serve the patient base in Germany more efficiently. This provides certainty for our production goals and signals international confidence in our ability to produce pharmaceutical-grade cannabis medicines.”
Nimbus Health currently supplies pharmacies serving over a quarter of the 75,000 ongoing patients using medicinal cannabis in Germany. Around 60 percent of prescriptions have full medical insurance reimbursement and over 2,500 German doctors currently prescribe cannabis for a wide range of conditions.
Rua Bioscience chairman, Trevor Burt, says this partnership is a key milestone in progressing the company’s global export strategy. “The global medicinal cannabis market is estimated to be worth over one hundred billion by 2026 and with New Zealand being just a small fraction of that, it’s crucial that we connect our cultivation expertise and good horticultural practices with experienced international suppliers who can distribute our product further afield.
“This export partnership expands on our established relationships with leading international cannabis researchers and ensures we are at the forefront of the global growth of our industry,” says Burt.
Since becoming licensed to breed, research, trial and import cannabis in 2018, Rua Bioscience has worked to establish the foundations required for an export-led growth strategy under the new Medicinal Cannabis Scheme that became operational in April. This work has included the harvest of the company’s first crop of medicinal cannabis flowers, coupled with strengthening of the company board and senior leadership with the appointment of Trevor Burt as chairperson, directors with global pharmaceutical, marketing and finance expertise, and new CEO, Rob Mitchell.
“Over the past 18 months, we’ve worked hard to ensure that we have the right strategy and people in place to grow and manufacture quality pharmaceutical-grade products,” says Mitchell. “While these partnerships reflect our focus on expansion internationally, economic development and job creation in Tairāwhiti remains a priority for the business.”
