Dr. Ziegler sells CC Pharma and remains

CC Pharma strengthens its import business with Aphria and enters the medical cannabis market – Dr. Ziegler remains Managing Director.

CC Pharma is strengthening its import business and aims to become one of the leading suppliers of medical cannabis products for pharmacies in Germany. To this end, the company announced that the Canadian pharmaceutical company Aphria Inc. (TSX: APH) is taking over CC Pharma GmbH. “This new constellation will not only strengthen CC Pharma in the German market, but will also positively develop the pharmacy and pharmaceutical wholesale market for medical cannabis,” says Dr. Manfred Ziegler, Managing Director of CC Pharma.

CC Pharma brings extensive experience with regulatory requirements and international logistics to the new liaison with Aphria. “We are ready to deliver medical cannabis immediately,” says Dr. Ziegler. Currently, the three products he has in his pharmacy and pharmaceutical wholesale range for medicinal cannabis come from the Netherlands. In the future, further raw material suppliers will be added through Aphria. Dr. Ziegler also sees this as “necessary because the market for medicinal cannabis is still in its infancy”. Aphria International has already announced a supply agreement with CC Pharma to export around 1,200 kilograms of medicinal cannabis products from Canada to Germany.

CC Pharma is currently working with the Goslar-based pharmaceutical logistics company Med-X-Press to handle these BTM products. Med-X-Press has the expertise and the prerequisites to store sensitive pharmaceutical products in a special narcotics warehouse. The company can also map the required logistics processes.

“When pharmacies order from us, they are used to being served quickly and professionally,” says Dr. Ziegler. “And in our view, this combination of safety and expected service must be doubly and triply guaranteed for a product as sensitive as medicinal cannabis.” He is therefore pleased that CC Pharma can play a part in alleviating the supply bottlenecks in the cannabis sector for the benefit of patients with this offer.

The takeover will take effect in January 2019. Dr. Manfred Ziegler and Dr. Thomas Weppelmann, the previous owners and managing directors of CC Pharma, will remain in their roles as managing directors of the company after the takeover. As the third Managing Director, Hendrik Knopp will be responsible for the medical cannabis products division at CC Pharma. Knopp is currently Managing Director of the health care company Nuuvera Deutschland.

Dr. Ziegler: “The main business and thus the brand core of CC Pharma GmbH will remain unaffected by the acquisition. We see this as a classic addition to our portfolio because we will use our expertise from the import business to systematically tap into a new market for pharmacies and pharmaceutical wholesalers.”