iX BIOPHARMA: Awarded Aussie medicinal cannabis manufacture license

A Singapore-listed company has received a licence in Australia that, together with other licences it had earlier secured, will enable it to sell into the booming medicinal cannabis business worldwide. Specialty pharmaceutical company iX Biopharma said its wholly-owned subsidiary, iX Syrinx, has been awarded a cannabis manufacture licence from the Australian Office of Drug Control under the Narcotics Drugs Act 1967. Under the licence, the Group is permitted to manufacture and supply extracts and tinctures of cannabis and cannabis resins. iX Syrinx's TGA-licensed contract manufacturing facility: Capable of manufacturing sublingual wafers which deliver drugs and other bioactives. Photo: Company Syrinx operates a TGA cGMP certified facility in the Australian state of Victoria, and holds import and export licences for cannabis and State poisons licences. With this suite of licences, iX Biopharma said it "is now able to fully participate in the global medicinal cannabis business."

The Group will manufacture and distribute its cannabis products in Australia through the Australian Special Access Scheme and in overseas markets.

Its newly-formulated Xativa™ leverages on iX Biopharma’s novel and patented WaferiX™ technology to improve the speed and level of absorption and predictability of effect of medicinal cannabis.

Xativa™ provides patients with "a more elegant and discreet way" to consume medicinal cannabis, said iX Biopharma, compared to existing dosage forms for cannabis such as joints, vapes and tinctures, and hence offers a superior user experience.

iX Biopharma said it has received feedback from physicians in Australia that the advantages of Xativa™ and its differentiation from the rest of the market offerings are clear and highly desired.

Produced via iX Biopharma’s proprietary freeze-drying technique, the porous and amorphous WaferiX™ matrix holding the active CBD molecules is designed to collapse quickly within the sublingual space.

The actives are then transported rapidly across the sublingual membrane into the blood vessels for a rapid onset of action.

“Globally, the use of cannabis for the treatment of a wide range of medical conditions has been growing at an exponential pace. The grant of the cannabis manufacturing licence has come at a most opportune time, allowing us to manufacture, distribute and promote Xativa™ as the gold standard in medicinal cannabis delivery, thereby charting a new growth trajectory for the Group.” -- Eva Tan (photo), Director of Corporate and Commercial Strategy, iX Biopharma.