The Vancouver-based medicinal cannabis grower’s Queensland facility will be the world's largest greenhouse cannabis operation, covering a 99-acre site
Asterion Cannabis Inc, a private Canadian company, said this week that its wholly-owned Australian subsidiary has filed an application with the Australian Government Office of Drug Control to obtain licences for the cultivation, production and research of medicinal cannabis.
The medicinal cannabis research licence would allow Asterion Australia to begin developing standard operating procedures for its research platform and to start research into clonal propagation techniques.
These cultivation and production licences are expected to allow the company to begin “controlled growing” of cannabis plants, and to formulate medicinal cannabis-derived bulk active pharmaceutical ingredients, said the company.
The active pharmaceutical ingredients are expected to be formulated as pharmaceutical salts and, separately, for incorporation into various dosage forms, including tablets, capsules, oral wafers, patches, creams, oral sprays or topical soluble gels.
READ: Asterion Cannabis' Australian unit strikes agreement to acquire land for Queensland production facility
Asterion Australia has struck up a non-binding agreement to acquire about 90 hectares of farmland in South East Queensland for the production of medicinal cannabis for more than C$10 million.
The ambitious project will ultimately have an annual capacity in excess of 500,000 kilograms.
This facility will be home to the world's largest greenhouse cannabis operation, covering a 4.3 million square foot site (approximately 99 acres).
To be built in three phases, the Asterion facility will be automated and powered by renewable energy. It will also include full extraction and processing equipment, as well as an R&D wing to create next-generation medicinal cannabis products.
The facility will use special plant tissue culture technology that will eliminate the need for mother plants, increase efficiency, lower costs and yield disease-free plantlets.
Asterion is a privately held Canadian cannabis company with operations in Australia that specialises in organic medical cannabis.
