ECS Botanics adds industry leader as it embarks on growth path

Special Report: ECS Botanics (ASX:ECS) has welcomed Little Green Pharma (ASX:LGP)’s former head of production as the Tasmanian hemp company moves into the medicinal cannabis space.

Damian Wood brings to the table 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing and auditing in the UK, Australia and Canada. He is a registered pharmacist with qualifications including MBA, Master of Pharmacy, Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy, and registered Practitioner Chartered Quality Institute.

Wood told Stockhead recently he was looking forward to moving to Tasmania from Western Australia, where he was key to bringing Australia’s first licensed medicinal cannabis oil to market with Little Green Pharma.

“I’m very excited to be joining ECS Botanics and lead this large-scale industrial project,” Wood said.

ECS Botanics has primarily been a hemp company producing hemp food and supplement products sold in Australian supermarkets and other retailers – with big expansion plans, including medical cannabis cultivation and production.

The company has a vision of becoming the largest and most diversified cannabis company in Australia. The three-stage expansion project that could make Tasmania and ECS Botanics with its partners, a world leader in medicinal cannabis cultivation and post-harvest production.

The cannabis will be processed on-site with a facility that would dry the biomass, then separate the leaf and bud from the stem (bucking), then mill it into smaller pieces; then extract the CBD and THC as a whole plant extract resin containing full spectrum cannabinoids for sale to off-takers.

“There are many different potentials that we can build for production,” Wood said.

“There are various value streams and supply chains that we can see for medicinal cannabis cultivation and production,” he said.

The company is expanding its customer value propositions and off-take agreements.

With a great climate for cultivation, Tasmania could potentially be a global leader in the legal medicinal cannabis industry, just like Tasmania is for the poppy industry.

“Certainly, ECS Botanics can become a leader for medical cannabis cultivation and production in the Australasian space,” Wood said.

The company has submitted plans to the Office of Drug Control and has received its ODC Licenses for cultivation and manufacture. The facility will be built in stages to meet the operational requirements and where required, comply with Australian and European Union good manufacturing practice (GMP) regulations.

Passion project

Wood said the unfortunate experience of a friend’s mother, led him to working in the medicinal cannabis sector.

ECS Botanics Managing Director Alex Keach says, with construction expansion already underway, it’s the perfect time in the company’s short history to have such an industry leader joining the team.

This article was developed in collaboration with ECS Botanics, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.