THC Global has launched its first Australian-made medicinal cannabis product and acquired clinic network of 30 prescribing physicians as the country’s cannabis industry takes another step forward.

While THC Global is not the first to launch its own brand of Australian-grown cannabis, chief executive Ken Charteris said it was the biggest, able to initially supply 6,000 patients this year.

It would also make medicinal cannabis more affordable to Australian, as imported medical marijuana can cost as much as $200 to $400 for a month’s supply, Mr Charteris said.

“It brings confidence, it brings availability, it brings pricing,” he said. “Doctors will be a hell of a lot more comfortable” prescribing this product.

THC has a 6.6-hectare cultivation facility in Bundaberg, Queensland, and its Southport refinement facility is the largest pharmaceutical-grade cannabis extraction facilities in the southern hemisphere.

THC’s first product is a cannabis oil that retains the psychoactive ingredient found in the smoked herb.

Other more specialised tablets and capsules would come later, he said.

Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration had as of April 30 approved more than 42,000 applications for medicinal cannabis use under a special access scheme set up in 2016.

The TGA has approved cannabis use to treat a variety of conditions including chronic pain, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and anorexia.

Mr Charteris said THC planned to export its product into Europe and Canada in the fourth quarter.

“We don’t have to recertify our product because TGA is an international certification,” he said.

THC also said on Thursday it was acquiring Tetra Health, a clinic network with 1,100 active patients who mostly attend physician consultations via a web-based telehealth platform.

The price was $500,00 in cash and $2.5 million in THC shares, plus five million in stock options exercisable at 40 cents each.

At 1412 AEDT, THC Global shares were up 15.2 per cent to 38 cents.