Latest news with #Puro
RNZ News
06-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Rules and red tape holding back cannabis industry
Puro product packaging in Australia. Photo: SUPPLIED/PURO NZ It used to be the drug synonymous with hot-boxed cars and doped-up teenagers but in 2025 the perception of cannabis is changing. In some countries you'll find it in lotions, gummy bears, even drinks. It's widely available and used for general well-being. Tim Aldridge is the co-founder of Puro, a cannabis cultivator based in Blenheim. He's just returned from London where he finalised what's believed to be the world's largest organic cannabis deal. "We were sitting down having a drink in the pub and on the menu, under soft drinks, is CBD water," Aldridge said. Worth almost $16 million, this deal will see Puro products exported to the UK. It's a huge milestone for the company and comes after many years of hard work. "We like to joke in this industry that one year is equal to dog years, so every year is seven years of our life," he laughed. Aldridge chooses to focus on the export market, where demand is high, because the domestic one is difficult to break into. "So we would have to send our product to Australia to be packaged and then once they're in Australia we would bring them back in but the time and cost of doing that is just economically prohibitive. "Plus the demand for our products in Australia and offshore is just considerable," he said. Aldridge has been in touch with the Ministry for Regulation with proposals and ideas to make things easier for domestic growers. "We wanted to introduce a trial really to allow for a slightly different regulatory approach where the same products are going through to market but the way the packaging is regulated is just a bit more common sense," he said. The Ministry for Regulation passed him on to the Ministry of Health and ultimately Aldridge made no headway. The Detail asked the Ministry of Health why the regulations are so strict compared to other countries, and it sent a reply that didn't really answer the question. However, its statement pointed out that the industry was consulted when the medicinal cannabis scheme was designed, resulting in the regulations introduced in 2019. "The Medicinal Cannabis Scheme was created to enable patients in New Zealand to have access to quality medicinal cannabis products. "They also set out a minimum quality standard that all medicinal cannabis products must meet, and once met can be prescribed by all medical practitioners. "During consultation when the Scheme was designed, Medical Practitioners supported the need for GMP to provide confidence to prescribers in the products they were prescribing. "Any changes to the current regulations would require legislative change." Low dose CBD products which have been assessed and approved by Medsafe can be sold by pharmacists, and information on this can be found on the Medsafe website. Sally King, executive director of the New Zealand Medical Cannabis Council, said New Zealand's standards cannabis for the domestic market are vast and complex. "You get different licences for different things. "You may cultivate, and that's one set of licences. You may manufacture, and in almost every case in New Zealand you can't directly give say a cannabis flower to a pharmacy, there is a process of further packaging and refining that is required," she said. Then there is the licence to be able to sell the product. All the steps and processes are standard for controlled drugs, but King said the difference with cannabis is a botanical plant. "So every stage of that process there are some pretty strict rules with respect to how a plant may be cultivated, what's in the plant and around the plant, what fertilisers might be used, if any, there's a whole lot of rules," she said. Currently medicinal cannabis products sold here need to meet the Good Manufacturing Practices, (GMP) but products produced for export need to meet the Good Agricultural and Collection Practices, (GACP). GMP is the standard that focuses on the manufacturing of products, how they're packaged, and processed; whereas GACP focuses on the cultivation of raw material. The former requires irradiation as part of the manufacturing of cannabis products but Sally thinks the latter is the appropriate standard for medicinal cannabis products, whether they're exported or sold domestically. "That's how we grow all our food, and it would probably be for almost all medicinal cannabis patients, a suitable level," she said. King said lowering standards wouldn't compromise quality. "I think that is one of the concerns of our Medicinal Cannabis Agency. We do have one of the highest standards in the world and it has served us very well, but it does keep prices high for patients," she said. So does King ever see a day where Kiwis will be able to sit in a local pub and order a glass of CBD water? "I do believe it will be possible. "It's going to be, I suspect, as much as anything a question of political will as it is a question of the science, but I would hope that our regulators and also our politicians will see both the opportunity and manage it correctly for the New Zealand market, sooner rather than later." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter . Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
24-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Announcing The World's Largest Organic Medical Cannabis Deal
New Zealand's leading medical cannabis grower Puro has made history by signing the largest organic medical cannabis export agreement ever at the New Zealand High Commission in London. The landmark £7M agreement with UK-based IPS Pharma comes as global demand for medicinal cannabis increases, with growth projected to rise from $47 billion to $149 billion by 2031. "This marks an exciting step forward for Puro but also for patients in the UK and Europe, where demand for high-quality medical cannabis is booming. Our partnership with IPS Pharma means consumers will now have access to a premium, organic product that meets some of the world's stringent standards," says Puro's CEO Sank Macfarlane. The agreement follows substantial investment in Puro's operations, including $13 million in government funding supporting world-leading research programmes that have helped establish New Zealand as an emerging leader in premium medical cannabis cultivation. As one of the few certified organic medical cannabis producers globally, Puro has developed innovative growing and processing techniques specifically designed for New Zealand's unique conditions, resulting in consistent, high-quality products that meet the most stringent pharmaceutical standards. "Not only is this deal the world's largest organic cannabis order, but it will provide many UK and European patients with their first experience of live dried cannabis. Our seven stage live drying process keeps cannabis as fresh and potent as the day it's harvested, locking in the maximum therapeutic value that can be lost overtime with traditional drying.' 'It's an approach that delivers smoother flavours and superior terpene profiles.' "Our unique combination of organic certification, live drying technology, ideal climate and groundbreaking research creates a product that we know will be highly sought after in Europe's rapidly expanding medical cannabis market,' says Sank Macfarlane. IPS Pharma Director Strategic Partnerships Ian McFarlane says the agreement will give UK and European patients access to some of the world's very best medical cannabis. "We know that UK and European patients will benefit from Puro's unique, organically grown cannabis varieties. Their exceptional terpene profiles and complex aromatic compounds make Puro products some of the best in the world,' says Ian McFarlane. The 2024 reforms in New Zealand's medicinal cannabis regulations, which have dramatically reduced the compliance costs of exporting medical cannabis, has enabled Puro to move forward with this historic export agreement. "These regulation changes have provided a pivotal opportunity for Puro to establish itself as a leading provider of premium medicinal products in the UK and Europe," Sank Macfarlane says.
RNZ News
22-04-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Medicinal cannabis producers veer away from local market for export
Harvesting cannabis flowers at Puro's Kēkerengū farm on the Kaikōura Coast. Photo: SUPPLIED/PURO NZ New Zealand's medicinal cannabis sector is warning that "onerous" regulations around production are restricting the local sector, while international players flood the market. The Medicinal Cannabis Council of New Zealand estimated the sector to be worth around $200 million , and welcomed the easing of rules around exports under the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Regulations in July (2024). Large organic outdoor and indoor grower Puro of Marlborough said the changes had an "overnight" positive impact for the business, as it signed multi-million dollar export deals in the months following. However while the numbers of licensed growers and the supply of product were rising, some New Zealand producers were struggling to gain traction domestically. Instead, many opted for export markets that had easier pathways to market, like Australia or European countries like Germany. Cultivation at Puro's Kēkerengū farm on the Kaikōura Coast. Photo: SUPPLIED/PURO NZ The number of medicinal cannabis license holders reporting to the Ministry of Health was growing steadily from 29 in 2020 to 52 last year - and 13 were already lodged in 2025, as growers had to renew their licenses annually. The use of medicinal cannabis was on the rise in New Zealand too, following the establishment of the medicinal cannabis scheme under the Ministry of Health in 2020. The Health Ministry's data showed the number of packs of medicinal cannabis prescribed and supplied in New Zealand had increased 12-fold in the five years since, to more than 305,000 packs of flower or oil products in 2024. A spokesperson for Medsafe, the medicines regulator, said 60 medicinal cannabis products were verified as meeting the "minimum quality standard." "This ensures that a product is of acceptable quality and free from contaminants such as pesticides and heavy bacteria or moulds," they said. "Unlike approved medicines, verified products have not been assessed for their safety or effectiveness." The Medsafe spokesperson said ensuring cannabis and medicinal cannabis products for prescription were of high quality was achieved through the licensing regime for cultivation, supply, as well as a verification scheme for the products. They said there were two medicinal cannabis products approved as medicines under the Medicines Act 1981. No medicinal cannabis products were yet funded by Pharmac. However, there were two outstanding applications for cannabidiol products, with one dating back as far as a decade. In recent years, Pharmac had said evidence around medicinal cannabis was generally of poor quality and didn't capture long-term risks. Funding applications required a "clearly defined patient population", good quality supporting evidence and long-term outcome and safety data. Medicinal cannabis growers faced a number of licenses, audits, fees and checks by regulators - for example, one grower could face $20,000 in charges and fees in just one year. Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) licenses were required for specific technical processes throughout production, including packing up picked, freeze-dried cannabis flowers. Marlborough's Puro company was unable to secure a GMP license specifically for packing at its site, so it sent freeze-dried flowers in bulk to Australia for packing which it then sold there, instead of re-importing for the New Zealand market. Puro product packaging in Australia. Photo: SUPPLIED/PURO NZ Executive chairman Tim Aldridge said despite meeting quality product standards, regulatory settings around GMP codes for manufacturing effectively blocked the company from accessing the domestic market. He said the regulatory framework advantaged importers, and unnecessary high costs were restricting treatment options for patients who ultimately inherited the costs. "A lot of patients out there, they can't afford these medicines," Aldridge said. "It's not so much the subsidy and sort of co-funding, it actually is allowing the regulations to be more pragmatic and ensuring products can go to market because that drives the cost down. "And the products that we're producing are a lot safer than what are available in some of the illicit channels." He said Pharmac was part of that conversation "to a degree", but he wanted officials and policymakers to consider possible improvements to regulations. "The most important message for us is to actually ensure we can compete with the products that have been imported into New Zealand, given that you know what we are producing is world class. So that requires a bit of regulatory tweaking." Aldridge said other New Zealand companies were also struggling with GMP licenses and other technical issues involved in production. NZX-listed company Rua Bioscience decided to sell its Good Manufacturing Practice-certified, purpose-built manufacturing facility in Tairāwhiti in 2023, shortly after building it, to instead focus on outsourcing cultivation and manufacturing. Chief executive Paul Naske said GMP verification was expensive and made it hard to innovate new products, as licenses were specific to certain products or processes. "Everyone in the industry is trying to muddle their way through the regulations," he said. "New Zealand regulations make it particularly onerous. "New Zealand is not going to be competitive for GMP manufacturing for medicinal cannabis products." Naske said there was a struggle between the medicinal and agricultural elements of the sector. "It was initially about satisfying patient demand. But it never intended to create a local industry," he said. "So products are imported, but patients are still getting access to them." Early season growth at Puro's Kēkerengū farm on the Kaikōura Coast. Photo: SUPPLIED/PURO NZ Tim Aldridge raised the "red tape" concern by email to the Ministry for Regulation. Conversely, the Ministry for Regulation was reviewing the regulations around cousin sector industrial hemp , announced in February, which may see legislation introduced to remove licensing requirements. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content was around 0.3 percent for industrial hemp versus 20-30 percent or more for medicinal cannabis, and both were managed by lead agency the Ministry of Health. The Ministry for Regulation referred Aldridge's submission to the Ministry of Health in February, as the lead agency. MedSafe confirmed the Ministry of Health received feedback from industry, including from the New Zealand Medicinal Cannabis Council, of which Aldridge was a board member. "[We] will consider this in the context of any further changes to medicinal cannabis regulation," a spokesperson said. The Medsafe spokesperson said it used "internationally agreed" GMP code of practice among countries like Germany and Australia. They said the system provided assurances that products were consistently produced, manufactured, packed and controlled, according to set quality standards for medicines and medicinal cannabis products. "An important factor in producing high quality products is ensuring that the facilities they are manufactured in meet quality standards and that there is an effective quality assurance system." Puro's executive chairman Tim Aldridge. Photo: SUPPLIED/PURO NZ Medicinal Cannabis Council chief executive Sally King said there were expensives involved throughout the production process for local producers, with many facing a six-figure investment to establish growing operations. She said while imports were also bound by quality standards, New Zealanders would prefer locally-grown product "It has to meet the qualifying standard, but it takes a great deal of time and effort and capital to go up that curve to be able to manufacture to the very high New Zealand standards," she said. "We really are hoping to see a great many more domestically grown medicinal cannabis options for patients here, but it's taking time. "It certainly is happening, but it is taking time and the majority of the market at the moment is dominated by imported product." King said the council remained a patient advocate and that better funding to improve access to the products would ultimately help patients. "This is not a funded medicine. It's expensive for patients, but patients do prefer many of the benefits that come from having a a domestically-grown product." She said unfortunately research opportunities into medicinal cannabis were being hindered by regulations too - which hurts the case for Pharmac to fund these products. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
