PharmaCielo is ramping up its oil processing capabilities in the Company’s Rionegro, Colombia facility following the recent acquisition and installation of additional high-performance, high-volume extractors, combined with proprietary extraction techniques. Additionally, the company has joined the TruTrace Technologies, Inc. and Shoppers Drug Mart initiated medical cannabis pilot verification program (“Pilot Program”). PharmaCielo is the first international medical cannabis producer to join this seed-to-sale tracking initiative.
Increase in dried cannabis processing capacity
"After receiving approval for commercial export of non-psychoactive (CBD) isolate PharmaCielo has expanded its extraction processing capacity to 265 tonnes of dried flower to meet anticipated global demand for its high-grade medicinal cannabis oils, feeding international supply channels and product production lines following the recent achievement of Colombian government approval for commercial export of non-psychoactive (CBD) isolate combined with announcement of the Company’s intent to acquire Creso Pharma Limited," the team with the company explains.
“With the recently announced agreement to acquire Creso Pharma, we have the opportunity to expand our global footprint and add an extensive portfolio of animal and human CBD products, which when combined with commercial export approval and inbound order demand puts us at the stage where we need to ramp up production.”
Along with the expansion of its extraction capabilities, PharmaCielo also announced it has surpassed the 18-ton mark of dried flower currently under inventory and immediately ready for processing. The Company also continues to expand the land area under active cultivation, currently at 12.1 hectares (capable in annual cultivation in excess of 0.48 million kg) from 5.3 hectares at the beginning of the year, with additional cultivation expansion expected to continue throughout the balance of the year.
“Since receiving Colombia’s first-issued manufacturing and cultivation licenses, we have utilized the opportunity to conduct trials with the full range of processing equipment and to determine which methodology best meets individual strain and finished-product requirements, as well as to develop proprietary methodologies,” added Attard. “Deep experience with all the processing technologies leaves us well-positioned to immediately capitalize on the installation of the new equipment and not lose valuable production time learning relative ins-and-outs.”
The additional processing equipment now in place complements technologies previously manufactured and installed by Canadian firm Vitalis, the global leader in industrial-scale supercritical CO₂ extraction, and will immediately increase annual dried flower processing capacity in support of previously announced strategies for the expansion of hectares under cultivation, with a corresponding increase in finished oil production. According to the company, laboratory analysis conducted has demonstrated purity of CBD isolate extraction certified as greater than 99+%, and readily accommodating multiple international requirements for commercial import.
Cannabis tracking and verification initiative
“We are pleased to have a recognized international medical cannabis producer joining and supporting our technology and the Canadian Pilot Program. As a new and burgeoning industry that impacts people’s health and wellbeing, it is imperative to build accountability into the supply chain and product offerings. I am thrilled to have partners like PharmaCielo joining the platform with Shoppers, sharing the same vision that we have and representing the global industry perspective to push it forward,” said TruTrace Technologies CEO Robert Galarza.
The Pilot Program uses TruTrace’s StrainSecure blockchain technology as a central hub for the data collection, registration and tracing of medicinal cannabis products from the plant’s DNA and strains through to the final product batch, ensuring its authentication and quality assurance throughout the production and distribution chain.
“The product registration hub is the right type of initiative the industry needs to bring it on par with the pharmaceutical and food industries in terms of full transparency and traceability,” said David Attard, CEO with PharmaCielo Ltd. “We see great value in this technology and its importance to the industry. PharmaCielo fully supports this initiative, as it aligns with our commitment to adhering to the highest operational and ethical standards in everything we do.”
Launched in mid-June at the second annual World Cannabis Congress, Shoppers Drug Mart and TruTrace initiated a Pilot Program that will provide stakeholders, including distributors, medicinal patients and regulators the knowledge and insight that comes with the ability to authenticate and track the origin of a single product or a batch back to the cannabis plant it came from.
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