MedTEC Pharma uses its South Australian crop and SAHMRI research to join boom for medicinal cannabis
MedTEC Pharma founders Richard Barrett and Brad Gallard gathered a board of wide experience to cover all aspects of turning their cannibis, grown in South Australia's Riverland, into medicinal health producs with backing of research atSouth Australian Health and Medical Research Institute led by Professor Steve Wesselingh.
Images courtesy MedTEC Pharma
South Australian medicinal cannabis company MedTEC Pharma, with 20 hectares of cannabis being cultivated and produced at its site in the state’s Riverland, announced in 2022 that had signed a $10 million three-year supply contract with a major pharmaceutical company in 2022.
Founded in 2019 by Brad Gallard and Richard Barrett, MedTEC Pharma was working with the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Adelaide University’s Waite Institute, Gianneschi Group in the United States of America. and other research bodies to deliver clinical evidence to support the commercialising of precision medicinal cannabis products.
The company's initial focus would be on the Australian market where patients had access to medicinal cannabis through the Therapeutic Goods Administration's special access scheme. Under the scheme, medicinal cannabis approvals had surged to more than 10,000 a month – a five-fold increase since 2019. MedTEC was fully licensed by the federal government to cultivate, make, research and develop medicinal cannabis.
MedTEC Pharma chief executive Richard Barrett, with 25 years in the health and manufacturing, said it would service high-demand chronic and neuropathic pain markets but would also develop adjacent solutions for sleep, appetite and anxiety. The company was funded primarily by a group of South Australian investors and would open to more investment in the leadup to its planned IPO (initial public offering) in 2023/24.
Agribusiness and patent specialist Mark Harvey chaired the company's advisory board, includes former state government SA Health Commission chief executive Ray Blight and SA Pharmacy executive director Anna McClure.
MedTEC Pharma's chief operating officer Brad Gallard, a third-generation citrus grower in the Riverland, was overseeing the company’s cannabis crop to be used, at first, for research. He said the Riverland offered some of the world's most suitable terroir to grow cannabis crops, using advanced sun-grown horticulture methods.
Barrett said the company's ambition was to help move medicinal cannabis from a niche industry to having global medical and pharmaceutical industry acceptance: "Our five-year partnership with SAHMRI will focus on the delivery of evidence-based results to support the entry of medicinal cannabis products onto the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, meaning that health professionals will be able to prescribe medicinal cannabis products with confidence.
SAHMRI executive director Steve Wesselingh said its work with MedTEC would support the state government's health and medical industries plan to more than double the sector's economic contribution to the state, from $2.3 billion to $5 billion, by 2030: "Medicinal cannabis is an exciting new sector in population health and our partnership with MedTEC Pharma provides us with the opportunity to contribute to ongoing research and development at the highest level."
