PT: Clever Leaves granted license to cultivate, sell, and export

Clever Leaves has been granted a license from INFARMED I.P., the Portuguese regulatory authority with oversight over the pharmaceutical industry in Portugal, including medical cannabis, to cultivate, import and export Good Agricultural and Collecting Practice (GACP) quality dried flower, produced from Clever Leaves’ Portugal cultivation site.

Clever Leaves’ Portuguese facility is located on approximately 9 million square feet of land and consists of approximately 110,000 square feet of greenhouse facilities. The license marks the commencement of Clever Leaves’ cultivation activities in Europe and its ability to produce, commercialize and export high-quality, GACP cannabis flower for medicinal purposes. Clever Leaves’ cultivation and post-harvest facilities have been purposely constructed to comply with internationally-recognized quality standards and production systems.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the license is considered provisional until a physical inspection from INFARMED takes place at the cultivation site. While provisional, it gives Clever Leaves Portugal the same rights and qualifications as the definitive license. The physical inspection is expected to occur in the near term and upon successful completion, a formal definitive license will be issued. Having access to capital-efficient medical cannabis production in the European Union is a key achievement for Clever Leaves, and upon receipt of its license from INFARMED, Clever Leaves expects to be the ninth fully licensed medical cannabis cultivator in Portugal. In comparison, there are currently over 400 licensed producers in Canada, as listed on Health Canada’s public website.

“This is an important milestone for Clever Leaves’ operations by creating a production center for dried cannabis flower in Europe, complementing our substantial operation in Colombia which focuses on the production of cannabis extracts.  The receipt of our Portuguese license is consistent with our global strategy of prioritizing high-quality, cost-effective production. Portugal has a highly attractive micro-climate for large-scale, efficient production and this license provides us with an opportunity to become one of the largest exporters of medical cannabis in Europe,” said Kyle Detwiler, CEO of Clever Leaves.

“Our team is comprised of industry experts with backgrounds in the agricultural and pharmaceutical industries, and this achievement is a testament to their expertise in meeting the strict regulatory requirements in Portugal”, added Andrés Fajardo, President of Clever Leaves.

Prior to the granting of this license, Clever Leaves had a pre-license which demonstrated that it had met the administrative requirements to proceed in the licensing process. Clever Leaves had also received an authorization from INFARMED to import genetics and was also allowed to engage in test cultivation.