Medical cannabis facility headed for Kent following $100m investment
A medical cannabis facility is headed for Kent, thanks to a record $100m investment by GW Pharmaceuticals.
The new owner of the British pharma firm, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, will build factory at its existing site at Kent Science Park in Sittingbourne, The Times first reported.
Following the $7.2bn takeover, more than 100 new, “highly skilled” jobs are expected to open in 2024.
The investment is “far and away the largest capital investment in the organisation’s history,” according to Jazz Pharmaceuticals’ head of Europe and international, Chris Tovey.
GW, which commercially grows cannabis at secret locations across the country, forms part of a growing wave of pharmaceutical firms looking to capitalise on shifting attitudes towards the drug.
The Kent facility, previously owned by energy giant Shell, has fallen under GW’s wing since it was founded in 1998.
The site’s expansion is expected to boost the group’s revenues from $3bn to $5bn in 2025.
Science minister George Freeman said the investment was a “big sign of confidence in the UK life science ecosystem”, which the country has been looking to strengthen post-Brexit.
Freeman added that it also signals confidence in “UK expertise in cannabinoid science and medicines”.