MGC Pharma sign agreement to set up medical cannabis production base in Malta

MGC Pharma has signed an agreement with the government to set up a medical cannabis production base in Malta.

Speaking yesterday, MGC Pharma founder Nativ Segev said that the company would provide ‘life-changing medication’ for conditions such as epilepsy, dementia, and different types of cancers, among others.

He said that Malta would serve as an access point for the European market and noted that the company’s new complex would not only be working on medical cannabis production, but also on bio-chemical and bio-scientific research.

Economy Minister Chris Cardona said that since the introduction of legislation to regulate the medical cannabis industry last year, the niche sector had been growing ‘significantly and successfully’. He said that MGC Pharma was one of the first companies to receive a letter of intent from Malta, and would be one of the first companies to set up a base on the island.

He said that Malta’s ‘open-door policy’ to ‘great and serious ideas’ was key to attracting companies such as MGC Pharma to the country, before also noting that Malta offered a “level playing field due to strict and transparent regulations.”

He noted that investment such as that of MGC Pharma affirms Malta’s position as a European leader in the medical cannabis sector after it became the first European country to introduce legislation on this sector.

MGC Pharma will receive a 6,000 square metre multi-story facility in Ħal Far, where it will produce medical cannabis and carry out research. The company will be investing €11 million and by its third year of operation is expected to have created 27 full-time jobs.