Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- MGC Pharmaceuticals (MXC) has claimed it’s successfully managing the health and safety of its staff in Slovenia while operations continue
- The ‘Seed to Medicine’ company has a manufuacturing facility in Slovenia where it produces phytocannabinoid medicines for various diseases
- Co-founder and MD Roby Zomer credits operations continuing to his brave and committed staff who are at the “epicentre of the pandemic”
- MGC has experienced delays in supplies and on receiving permits but is pleased operations have still continued
- To mitigate the financial risk, the company has put in place various cost-saving measures, including a hefty 50 per cent reduction to its senior management’s salary
- MGC Pharma’s shares are currently suspended and last traded at 1.7 cents each in mid-March
European-based biopharma company, MGC Pharmaceuticals (MXC) has provided an operations update during the COVID-19 pandemic.
MGC Pharma claims it has successfully managed the health and safety of its staff in Slovenia while operations continue from its manufacturing base during March and April 2020.
The company has noted this has been maintained during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe where a full government lockdown has been in place in Slovenia due to the crisis in Italy.
MGC Pharma has continued producing its phytocannabinoid medicines at the Slovenian EU GMP manufacturing facility while under the guidance of the Slovenian Government.
Company Co-founder and Managing Director Roby Zomer states the situation in Europe is not to be taken lightly.
“I appreciate the COVID-19 pandemic is a global issue and is front of mind for our Australian shareholders, but the impact of what is happening in Europe and with respect to the people in Slovenia cannot be underestimated,” he said.
“The majority of our team is living next to the epicentre of this pandemic, but have continued to work tirelessly over the past 6 weeks for which we owe them the utmost gratitude,” he added.
Production and supply
Due to COVID-19, the ‘Seed to Medicine’ company has experienced major disruptions and delays in the delivery of key supplies such as raw materials, product labels and packaging due to country borders closing, and all non-essential services and suppliers shutting businesses throughout Europe.
It has also impacted on the process and timing for receiving permit approvals for the export of MGC’s GMP phytocannabinoid medicines from Slovenian authorities.
However, the company is pleased that production has still be able to continue in the past two months despite processes moving slower.
Positively, the company reported that since February, over 1800 MGC Pharma products (including CannEpil and MP100) have successfully been delivered into the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
Mr Zomer claims his team has remained committed to continuing operations during these difficult times.
Salary cuts
MGC Pharma was supposedly going to implement salary cuts from January 1 2020 but, in recent weeks, the company has decided to slash salary even further by at least 50 per cent for all Directors and Executive management from March 1 2020.
Additionally, senior management have agreed to take hefty reductions of between 40 and 50 per cent to help minimise the company’s operating costs.
To mitigate COVID-19’s potential financial impact even further, MGC will implement a reduction in discretionary spend, deferral of non-essential research and development, and cancelation or renegotiation of all existing contracts.
The company is also reviewing government funding schemes in the U.K., Slovenia, and Australia for companies impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is to ensure it receives the maximum rebate possible in each country.
MGC Pharma’s shares are currently suspended and last traded at 1.7 cents each in mid-March.
