WFS Pharmagreen is in the final stages of plans for a new cannabis research and production facility. The wholly owned Canadian subsidiary of Pharmagreen Biotech has completed the design and is now finalising engineering plans for the new building.
The 62,000 sqft cannabis/botany biotech complex building nestled on 25 acres (10 hectares), near Vancouver, Canada is targeted for completion in the summer of 2019. The facility will use engineering and construction to create a secure, eco-friendly and semi-automated tissue culture, cleanroom laboratory, extraction and distillation, and research facility.
This cannabis biotech complex will provide for the annual in-vitro production and supply of over 10 million cannabis tissue cultured plantlets and ready-to-grow starter crops for licenced commercial grow operations, micro-cultivators as well as for the Canadian retail markets and the international markets with its licenced proprietary hemp strain plantlets.
Medicinal formulations researched and developed at the centre will be made available under the Pharmagreen Biotech brand.
Site operations
The licensing for the cannabis/botany biotech complex as both a dealer and producer is pending approval under Health Canada’s Access to cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations and the Office of Controlled Substances. Upon approval, it will allow for several original, complimentary and cannabis services:
- The cannabis/botany biotech complex will employ between 80-100 persons on site. The primary focus is to produce pesticide/fungicide-free, with no genetic drift tissue cultured plantlets using the proprietary in-vitro “Chibafreen Process”.
- This micro-propagation technology developed by Botanical Research In Motion (BRIM) is for use by Pharmagreen in its biotech centres, for new growth plantlets from any existing plant strain while limiting genetic variance and mutation. It allows for large-scale production of precise and consistently robust quality suitable plantlets.
- On site R&D at the centre will continue to enhance existing micro-propagation techniques for cultured plantlets and help refine developing protocols for a variety of cannabis strains for indoor and outdoor cannabis growers. Application of this botanical tissue culture technology may also be adapted for any plant species to benefit sustainable agriculture needs beyond simply the various specific cannabis species.
- BRIM has developed a proprietary industrial hemp strain named “CBD DANA” which will be made available for large-scale production for both domestic and international markets produced and sold via Pharmagreen’s biotech complex. This strain contains a high cannabidiol content of 10-20%, less than 0.3% THC and a unique profile of active terpene and alkamide entourage constituents.
- Cold storage capacity utilising (BRIM’s) proprietary Cold Storage technology will provide for long term plant tissue sample preservation and banking of specific live plantlet strains for future research and production, will be another service provided at the biotech complex.
- Energy efficient greenhouse space will further allow for year-round nurseries safeguarding cultured and developing plants for all growing seasons.
- The complex will provide analytic services, genomic characterisation and testing of botanical material for industry certification and also include commercial-scale plant distillation and extraction capacity for producing botanical oils and other active medicinal constituents.
This complex may serve as a model for future build-outs in other parts of the country and abroad. Its facilities for large-scale production, research and storage of genetically identical, disease and pest-free plantlets with consistent and certifiable constituent properties, ensure the highest standards for safety and quality of cannabis as medicine.