Business of Cannabis reports on how Portugal is just quietly getting on with it
Portugal remains well positioned to be one of the main producers of medicinal cannabis in the world. There are currently 42 companies with licenses from the Infarmed IP to operate in activities related to medicinal cannabis in Portugal, 8 more than in 2022, a growth of 23.5%.
However, there are another 150 entities with the documentation to continue in the licensing process, which could considerably increase the number of companies operating in the cannabis sector nationally in the near future.
This year, Infarmed issued 76 new authorisations to cultivate, manufacture, import, export and distribute cannabis, but it has another 265 requests in the post-decision or suitability for inspection phase: 98 requests for inspection for cultivation, 38 for manufacturing, 115 for import/export and 14 for wholesale distribution.
Currently, 24 companies have licenses for cultivation, 15 for the manufacture and preparation of substances and preparations, 12 for wholesale trade and 32 have licenses for import and export. 17 already have EU-GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) certification.
Portugal exported more than 5.4 tons of cannabis until August 2023, mainly for Germany, Poland and Australia, but doctors continue to prescribe very little in the country. Only 524 packages were prescribed of the only substance that is available to Portuguese patients: Tilray Flor Seca with 18% THC.
The data was released this week by the National Authority for Medicines and Health Products IP and Cannareporter updated the map and lists of licensed companies with the latest numbers.
The location of companies on the map corresponds to their tax headquarters and not necessarily to the place of cultivation or activity carried out. Some of these companies accumulate several types of licenses, for different areas of activity related to cannabis.
