Key facts
- Jacob Erkelens said the family made a bid to buy the Emmeloord production site back and is progressing with investors.
- The intended asset transaction covers the Emmeloord site, machinery, genetics, mother plants, live production plants and documentation.
- The family would agree continued use of the Veendam site; shares in the old group companies stay outside the deal.
- The restart needs financing, permits and exemptions, release of the assets and concrete offtake agreements, Erkelens said.
- Bedrocan obtained EU-GMP status in 2017 as the first producer of medicinal cannabis for its production process, including cultivation, Erkelens said.
- About 7,000 people in the Netherlands use prescribed medicinal cannabis, with current stocks expected to last until roughly mid-2027.
The Erkelens family is working on a restart of Bedrocan, the Dutch medicinal cannabis producer that went bankrupt on October 8, as Erkelens Fytofarma, a supplier of EU-GMP cannabis raw material and active pharmaceutical ingredients for extracts, new delivery forms and registered medicines.
"We have a very good opportunity, and in the Netherlands we have been focusing on a restart," Jacob Erkelens, CEO of Bedrocan, said. Bedrocan has supplied medicinal cannabis in the Netherlands since 2003. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport ended Bedrocan's supply contract with the Bureau Medicinale Cannabis as of January 1, 2026, the company requested a suspension of payments in late September, and two weeks later, on October 8, a Dutch court declared it bankrupt. With the bankruptcy, Bedrocan went from 70 employees to 12 in the Netherlands.
About 7,000 people in the Netherlands use prescribed medicinal cannabis, and current stocks should last them until roughly mid-2027, while the ministry runs a European tender. "Removing the export options for cannabis flower within the existing Dutch framework has unfortunately knocked the foundation out from under Bedrocan," Erkelens said. "At the same time, the market changed. A sustainable restart therefore calls for a new direction, as a specialized supplier to producers of extracts, new delivery forms and registered cannabis-based medicines."
"As the brothers behind the family business, we want to restart Bedrocan under the flag of Erkelens Fytofarma," Erkelens said. "We are building on the people, genetics, knowledge and infrastructure with which Bedrocan made a name for itself internationally. Our goal is to become the main supplier of EU-GMP cannabis raw material for pharmaceutical applications, and the preferred supplier for developers working toward a registered medicine."
The new company would focus on standardized EU-GMP cannabis raw material and API for extracts, precisely dosable delivery forms and drug development, and would start with a compact organization of up to 15 key staff, which the brothers would lead. "We made a bid to buy the facility back, and we're progressing with my investors to make that happen. We still have the genetics, all the cultivars," Erkelens said.
The asset transaction the family intends would cover the Emmeloord production site with its machinery and installations, the genetics, mother plants, live production plants and the related know-how and documentation, and the family would agree on continued use of the Veendam site, while the shares in the old group companies would stay outside it. On top of financing, the restart needs the necessary permits and exemptions, the release of those assets and concrete offtake agreements.
"Bedrocan obtained EU-GMP status in 2017 as the first producer of medicinal cannabis for its production process, including cultivation," Erkelens said. Bedrocan was also among the partners in a study on THC oil in 200 patients with chronic neuropathic pain, which CHDR and LUMC in Leiden announced in 2024.