South Australia-based MedTEC Pharma has become one of the first Australian firms to produce freeze-dried products from locally grown plants in a move it believes will set itself apart from competitors and provide patients with therapeutically rich medicine.
With sales of oil beginning to plateau, or even decline across the industry, MedTEC has invested what it called a “significant” sum in innovative, post-harvesting technologies to produce live rosin vapes, freeze-dried live flower and live rosin gummies.
The products will be sourced from 12,000 cannabis plants grown under protective netting at its facility in the Riverland region of South Australia, 260km east of Adelaide.
The investment has seen MedTEC acquire a large-scale freeze dryer from New Zealand and cryo-trimming equipment from the US. It will showcase the capabilities of the machinery at the United in Compassion (UIC) symposium in Brisbane next weekend.
MedTEC chief commercial officer Dirk Beelen told Cannabiz that products were quietly launched earlier this month, with a larger roll out expected over the coming weeks.
“We did not make a big bang out of it because we were afraid we would get too many orders in a short period of time and one of our promises is that we’ll never be out of stock,” he said. “So we only went to a few select partners. We’ve been extremely pleased with the response.
“What we are doing is unique in the Australian market. Indeed, no-one in the southern hemisphere has a freeze-drying machine of the size we have for medicinal cannabis. Even worldwide only a handful of companies possess this type of technology.
“We believe it will set a new benchmark in delivering terpene and cannabinoid-rich products for Australian prescribers and, of course, patients.”
Freeze drying cannabis is a process that bypasses traditional hang drying, dehydrating and curing, and ensures the plant retains the same combination and quantities of compounds as it possessed prior to harvesting.
Within an hour of being harvested, buds are frozen at -20 degrees, after which they undergo bladeless cryo-trimming, a process where buds are slowly tumbled at similar sub-zero temperatures for approximately 30 seconds.
As the sugar leaves become brittle, they fall off during the slow tumble, leaving what Beelen described as “perfectly trimmed buds”. These buds are then transferred into freeze driers, while the cannabinoid-packed sugar leaves are collected and used in the production of MedTEC’s live rosin.
Explaining further, Beelen said the freeze-drying cycles involve sub-atmospheric pressure that creates sublimation, a process where moisture goes from a solid to a gas state, bypassing the liquid phase entirely.
“Take a frozen spinach leaf as an example,” he said. “If you put that on your kitchen bench, a while later you’ll have a pool of water and a leaf that has disintegrated.
“If the spinach had been freeze dried, that leaf would look the same as when it was picked.”
“Initial feedback on the freeze-dried product has been extremely positive,” Beelen said.
“The colours are more vibrant and the buds have retained all the terpenes and cannabinoids that provide the therapeutic benefits,” he said. “Those benefits can be lost through other drying and curing methods because the plant begins to degrade as soon as it’s harvested. Freeze drying enables us to keep all those attributes, all those qualities. And we are one of the few companies in the world who are doing this.”
According to some estimates, freeze-dried buds are up to 15% more potent than those from the same harvest which have been traditionally dried and cured.
Live rosin is made from trichomes, the crystal-like vesicles covering the buds and sugar leaves. As with sugar leaves, while maintaining the cold chain, trichomes detach from the flower during the cryo-sieve phase to create live sift, or live kief as it is known in recreational circles.
Another innovation at MedTEC is the production of solventless bubble hash using ice water separation, after which the live bubble hash is freeze dried.
To separate the cannabinoids and other compounds from the trichomes, this bubble hash is pressed through filter bags to create live rosin which is then used to produce live rosin vapes and live rosin pastilles.
In a similar vein to MedTEC’s flower, the freeze-dried nature of the live rosin products – and the solventless separation method – ensure they do not lose any of their pre-harvest compound content.
“What was originally in the plant will sit in the end product with all the minor terpenes and cannabinoids,” Beelen said. “It’s the original soup, the original blend that was created by the plants.”
Another benefit outlined by MedTEC is that it can react to market demand with the supply of products that have not started to degrade.
When frozen cannabis is stored properly, it is understood it can last for many months, or up to years, with little or no deterioration.
Beelen said the company has set its sights on delivering a consistent and reliable supply of product.
“Stock outs is one of the biggest frustrations for patients and doctors and we will ensure that does not happen,” he said, adding the firm will hand out freeze-dried fruit from its booth at UIC emblazoned with a “no stock outs” message.
MedTEC managing director Brad Gallard told Cannabiz that its focus on freeze-dried products is a significant shift from its original strategy.
Like “every other cannabis company in 2019”, its intention was to focus on oils.
“The market changed and we had to pivot,” Gallard explained. “We listened to the market, we listened to doctors, pharmacists and, of course, patients, and switched our focus to a range of products that we believe is unique for an Australian company, using Australian-grown cannabis.”
While it will continue to produce oil and traditionally dried flower products where required – MedTEC launched in August last year with three oils and five flowers – it will progressively roll out larger quantities of freeze-dried medicine.
Also in the pipeline for the company is a high-CBD dried flower, from which CBD live rosin vapes and CBD live rosin gummies will emerge.
Breathe Life Sciences (BLS) has been engaged for the GMP packaging of the MedTEC products at its facility in Brisbane.
