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UK: Six-Month Bedrolite Supply Secured for UK Patients But Long-Term Access Remains Uncertain

Ben Stevens

Business of Cannabis

Friday 23 Oct 2026

UK medical cannabis patients have been told that they’ll have access to a six-month stockpile of Bedrolite, following weeks of uncertainty in the wake of Bedrocan’s collapse.

Target Healthcare, the UK drug manufacturer which stepped in to produce Bedrolite oil from its UK facility after Brexit-related disruption in 2022, confirmed to families this week that it has ‘enough stock for the next six months, which can hopefully provide … some stability into next year.’

In an email seen by our sister publication Cannabis Health, Target said it remained in ‘active ongoing discussions with Bedrocan and other organisations to be able to establish and move towards a future plan.’

“Once they have something in place or can provide additional updates, they will keep us informed so we can keep our patients updated,” it added.

It comes amid increasing pressure from patient organisations, patient families and their MPs on the UK and Dutch governments to establish a long-term secure supply.

How Target’s UK production is linked to Bedrocan

Target, which is headquartered in Glasgow and manufactures at its Durham facility, took over Bedrolite production from Transvaal Apotheek in The Hague in 2022 under a technology transfer agreement, following post-Brexit supply disruption.

The arrangement was confirmed in Parliament by then-Health Minister Maria Caulfield in March 2022, who told MPs that ‘the chosen United Kingdom commercial partners are progressing the technology transfer agreement’.

Under that arrangement, Target produced batches in the UK that were sent back to the Netherlands for quality-control comparison against the Dutch product. Transvaal’s quality assurance lead, Arwin Ramcharan, said at the time that he had visited Target’s facility ‘five or six times’ to train staff and ensure consistency.

Bedrocan’s own corporate website describes selling whole dried cannabis flower, cut flos, and ‘API starting material’ to pharmaceutical manufacturers, noting the material ‘may count as a starting material for pharmacy compounding’ in some jurisdictions. Target’s current MHRA Manufacturer’s Authorisation includes a specific designation for cannabidiol and dronabinol pressurised preparations, and authorises batch certification of imported medicinal products.

What happens when the stockpile runs out?

Target’s continued production depends on access to Bedrocan plant material or API from the Netherlands, which is the only Bedrocan facility growing the specific starting material used to produce Bedrolite.

Bedrocan’s head of corporate and marketing Femke Starrenburg confirmed to Business of Cannabis in October that ‘Bedrolite is produced exclusively in the Netherlands and is not currently cultivated in Denmark’.

Under the Dutch Opium Act, all Bedrocan cannabis exports from the Netherlands are routed through the Dutch Office of Medicinal Cannabis (OMC). Any transfer of material from the current bankruptcy estate would require OMC approval of both the transaction and the acquiring party, Starrenburg confirmed.

That leaves a narrow set of routes for Target to secure longer-term supply, none of them yet confirmed as in motion. A diplomatic solution could emerge from the ongoing UK embassy discussions with the Dutch Ministry of Health, modelled on the 2021 export waiver that allowed shipments to continue to the UK while domestic production was being established.

A buyer could emerge from the Dutch bankruptcy process, or the parallel Danish rekonstruktion, who is willing and able to continue the supply arrangement under a new OMC licence. Or production of the specific Bedrocan plant material could be stood up elsewhere in Europe, a process that Starrenburg has previously confirmed would take ‘at least six months’ even at Bedrocan’s own Danish facility.

Separately, End Our Pain’s Joanne Griffiths has stated in a letter to the Prime Minister that a UK pharmaceutical company with the relevant licences has signed an agreement with Bedrocan to manufacture, test and arrange dispensing of Bedrolite and Bedica oils in the UK.

The arrangement, which Business of Cannabis has not been able to independently confirm, is understood to be subject to the same OMC licensing constraint.

Pressure is mounting from both patient organisations and industry figures for a time-limited intervention by the Dutch Government modelled on the 2021 export waiver.

Bedrocan founder and former chairman Tjalling Erkelens wrote on LinkedIn that the 2021 arrangement, under which Dutch authorities permitted the Transvaal Apotheek and other pharmacies to continue dispensing cannabis oils against UK prescriptions, ‘prevented acute clinical emergencies, buying the UK government and importers the crucial time required to establish viable domestic supply routes and import frameworks’.

He added: “When international trade rules shift overnight, patient safety must remain the non-negotiable benchmark guiding regulatory policy.”

The Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society (MCCS) has written to the Prime Minister and Health Secretary Yvette Cooper calling for a temporary arrangement with the Dutch authorities to release OMC-held stock.

The Medcan Family Foundation has separately appealed to the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) and the OMC for what co-founder Matt Hughes described as a ‘targeted, time-limited humanitarian allocation while sustainable supply routes are restored, without compromising the needs of Dutch patients’.

Business of Cannabis understands that the UK embassy in the Netherlands is in discussions with VWS. Business of Cannabis has approached the Home Office, the Department of Health and Social Care, the MHRA, and VWS for comment.

https://businessofcannabis.com/six-month-bedrolite-supply-secured-for-uk-patients-but-long-term-access-remains-uncertain/

 

 

 

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