Medicinal cannabis and research company Althea Group (ASX: AGH) has become the first Australian producer of commercial cannabis products to be granted the required licenses in Germany for sales and distribution.

With the licences, Althea expects their first shipment of their Australian-made medicinal cannabis extract products to take place in December 2020.

The licenses were granted by Germany’s health department alongside Althea’s partnership with German distributor Nimbus Health GmbH which will pay for 2,000 cannabis products up front and then share 50% of profit with Althea.

“We are very pleased that all relevant licenses have been granted. This will now allow Althea to focus on the sale and distribution of our products in the German market through Nimbus,” said Althea CEO, Josh Fegan.

“We expect to see rapid uptake given Althea’s reputation and Nimbus’ established market presence in Germany.”

Already with a strong sales pipeline in Australia and the United Kingdom which delivered Althea with $2.1m in revenue for the Quarter ending 30 September 2020, Nimbus will adopt a similar sales strategy, driven by high performance in-field sales. Representatives will then have support from the Althea Concierge platform which has been re-purposed for the German market.

Germany has long been a strategic market for Althea which has been working towards these granted licenses for more than 12 months. With a population of 83 million and an estimated medicinal cannabis market value of €1.5 billion by 2025, Althea is confident that the commercial opportunity and progressive culture in Germany is ideal for the next market entry.

“It has been amazing to see how Althea and our team have worked closely together to achieve this milestone,” said Nimbus Founder and CEO, Linus Maximilian Weber.

“We are very pleased that Nimbus is the first distributor bringing Australian made extracts to patients in Germany and will further increase the value of cannabis-based medicines in country.”