A leading manufacturer based at the Boots headquarters in Beeston has been taken over. BCM Specials Ltd, owned by Fareva and based in Boots' D10 Building, in Thane Road, has been acquired by global medicinal cannabis business, Avida Global Ltd.
The new company, Avida Medical, will manufacture and distribute medicinal cannabis products in the UK, in addition to servicing the existing Specials business. It will remain in the D10 Building for now before relocating to a new site in Nottingham later next year. All 50 BCM Specials employees will transfer across to the new business.
This acquisition gives Avida Global the accreditation and complete set of licenses required to import, manufacture and distribute medicinal cannabis products in the UK for the human and veterinary market. David Kirby, chief executive officer at Avida Global, said: "This transformative acquisition is incredibly exciting and gives us extraordinary potential as a business, giving us immediate access to the UK medical cannabis market, home to one of the largest patient populations using cannabis in Europe.
“Our primary driver has always been to bring quality to life and we are committed to supplying the highest quality products, working with partners to create new innovative cannabis-based medicines and helping to improve patient access.”
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The move makes Avida Global the only full-service UK cannabis business licensed to operate. Medical cannabis falls under the Specials or unlicensed medicines category, which refers to medicines manufactured or procured specifically to meet the special clinical needs of an individual patient.
Avida Medical will be headed up by Paul Parkinson, chief operations officer, MD and head of UK Operations at Avida Global. Neil Bashforth, General Manager at BCM Specials will assume the role of managing director, Avida Medical.
Earlier this month, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) published new guidance setting out the authorisations required to manufacture unlicensed cannabis-based medicines in the UK. The guidance, the most significant step in the industry since medical cannabis was legalised in 2018, was welcomed with many saying transparency will encourage investment and lay the groundwork for a healthy domestic medicinal cannabis industry in the UK.
The UK is home to one of the largest patient populations using cannabis in Europe. To date, approximately 20,000 people have been prescribed medical cannabis for a range of conditions including chronic pain, depression, insomnia and Parkinson’s, with this figure set to grow exponentially over the next two years.
According to recent data, there were approximately 23,466 privately-prescribed, unlicensed medical cannabis items dispensed in 2021, which represents a 425% increase on 2020. Despite cannabis being legalised for medicinal use in 2018, only three people in the UK have been handed a prescription by the NHS, forcing others to go private or access the drug illegally.
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