Aurora boosting medical cannabis research in Saskatoon

Saskatoon is positioned to be a major medical cannabis research centre for years to come after a $1.5 million funding boost from Aurora Cannabis Inc.

On Tuesday, the medical marijuana company announced its Saskatoon centre, now called Aurora Prairie, will be the “newest science hub” as the company continues to improve existing facilities and deal with an increased demand in medical marijuana.

“This is one of the improvements. It moves us more towards the science of cannabis, and in making sure that this facility remains a world-class, top-notch, scientific medical cannabis facility,” said CEO Terry Booth, after he announced the rebranding to staff at the building.

Formerly known as CanniMed prior to Aurora’s takeover in 2018, the facility was Canada’s first licensed medical marijuana producer in 1988. Booth said the company has roughly contributed $4 million in upgrades since the takeover, and plans to spend an additional $16 million over the next 18 months.

“Aurora Prairie … is going to be a big part of that research, human research and the plant research with respect to this medicine, and to get it to that next step that it needs to go for total acceptance,” Booth said.

Those next steps include completing clinical trials, strain consistency and product development.

Chief scientific officer Jonathan Page detailed the changes that will take place at the facility with the new funding, focusing on three areas: plant tissue culture, analytical sciences and research, and development cultivation.

“Saskatoon’s facilities here are probably the best in our Aurora system globally, and we’re putting more money and more staff into that area,” he said.

Upgrading much of the tools and infrastructure at Aurora Prairie will allow for more cultivation spaces and better quality control. Page noted the upgrades will allow the company to keep up with its expanding brand and will keep the world-class facility up to date.

Page is somewhat of a rock star in the medical cannabis industry. He co-lead a project from the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Toronto that first sequenced the cannabis genome in 2011.

Collaborative work between Aurora, the U of S and other research agencies in the region is expected to flourish, with a focus on cannabis oils and other cannabinoids.

The funding will also increase the facility’s workforce to around 225. Keeping healthy staffing levels is vital for the increased demand, according to Page.

“There’s more doctors comfortable with authorizing medical cannabis to their patients,” he said of the increased demand. “I think, overall, even though medical cannabis remains controversial in parts of the medical community, there’s been an increased comfort level with doctors getting it out the door.”

Aurora is considered a global giant for the industry. It operates in 24 countries and is currently building a 1.6-million square foot production facility near Medicine Hat, Alta.

With a head office in Edmonton and an emphasis on investing in the prairies, Aurora thinks Saskatoon is an easy place to expect industry-leading innovation.

“It’s a better place to do business,” Booth said of the Prairies. “Us western Canadians are true entrepreneurs and hard-working people.”

Page thinks the region’s storied agriculture history helped Aurora’s hand.

“The focus on agriculture, the expertise level, the knowledge level and some of the funding here makes it a special place to do that work,” he said. “We all can look back to successes, like canola, that was developed in Saskatoon; it sort of shows you the track record of this place for doing agricultural innovation.”