Israel's Canndoc signs cannabis import-export deal with Tilray

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel's InterCure Ltd <INCRA.TA> said on Thursday its subsidiary Canndoc has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Tilray Inc <TLRY.O> for the import and export of medical cannabis.

Canndoc has an option to import 2.5 tonnes of high quality cannabis from Tilray's facilities in Portugal, with a first shipment of 250 kilograms already on its way to Israel. The cannabis will be sold as finished products in Israeli pharmacies.

Canndoc said to its knowledge this is the first medical marijuana imported commercially to Israel.

The Israeli company will also export up to 5 tonnes of cannabis for use in products marketed by Tilray, subject to Canndoc's receipt of an export license. Canndoc will supply about 1.5 tonnes by the end of the second quarter.

If Canndoc does not receive regulatory approval by April 1, it has an option to sell its marijuana to Tilray for marketing in Israel under the Tilray brand or under a joint brand the two companies might establish.

"The joint operations enable the two companies to offer a variety of high quality products to patients in Israel and in the near future, to the world," Canndoc Chairman Ehud Barak, a former prime minister of Israel, said in a statement.

Israel's market for medical marijuana is expected to reach 100,000 patients by the end of 2020.

(Reporting by Tova Cohen, Editing by Ari Rabinovitch)