Demand for Ozempic boosts Tasmanian poppy industry

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The demand for the drug Ozempic that's used to treat type two diabetes and weight-loss continues to grow. There's currently a shortage and that has helped open new markets for Tasmania’s poppy industry.

Transcript

00:00This facility at Westbury is home to Tasmania's largest poppy extraction plant,

00:08creating the raw ingredients for nearly half of the world's pain medication.

00:14So materials that most people don't hear of, things like thebane and oroparvin,

00:18or codeine, which people are very familiar with.

00:21A decade ago, demand for these painkiller ingredients slumped

00:25as prescribing rules were tightened for addictive opioids.

00:31The world's obsession with weight loss drugs is now filling the gap in demand for poppy products.

00:38Compounds from the Eve and Thebane poppy varieties form the base for weight loss drugs.

00:45So we're actually finding that demand has increased enormously on the back of Ozempic.

00:51After price cuts due to softening demand, it's the shot in the arm the sector needed.

00:57The market turnaround comes as staff and growers from across the decades

01:01celebrate 50 years in the poppy processing business.

01:06Premier Jeremy Rockleaf's dad, Rick, spent 45 years with Tasmanian alkaloids.

01:12He continued growing poppies right up until the time he passed away.

01:16And so it means a lot.

01:18And, you know, we talked about the poppy industry a lot around the dinner table

01:23and it was his passion.

01:25So what does the future hold for the poppy industry that sustained this pharmaceutical company

01:30for the last 50 years?

01:32A large increase in poppy production across the state is slated for this season

01:38as Extract Tas Bioscience continues to diversify its markets.

01:44Obviously the increase that we've got this year is fairly substantial,

01:48backed with a price increase as well for the varieties.

01:52So I think it's going to be a very positive outlook for the poppy industry into the future.

01:57Driving the industry forward.

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