New York investment firm Altitude Investment Management on Thursday announced a USD2.4m strategic investment in EMMAC Life Sciences Limited.

This is its first investment in a European cannabis company.

Headquartered in the UK, EMMAC combines the latest science and research with cutting-edge cultivation, extraction and production.

Altitude's participation is part of a GBP11m financing, which will be used by EMMAC to close pending acquisitions as well as support collaborative research efforts focused on medical cannabis.

Through the financing, EMMAC will import medical cannabis into the UK and manufacture EU GMP products. It has established a research collaboration with Imperial College London to investigate cannabis-based medicinal products designed to directly benefit patients. The initial focus will be research on therapeutic products for chronic pain, spasticity and cancer.