According to Hexa Research, the U.S. medical cannabis market was valued at USD 5.44 billion in 2016 and is expected to be valued at USD 19.48 billion by 2024. The expected growth is driven by the growing acceptance of medical advantages linked with cannabis, particularly for patients with cancer, diabetes and chronic pain. Symptoms and conditions that may be treated by cannabis include, cancer, HIV, AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis. Chronic pain accounted for 46 percent of the U.S. cannabis medical market share in 2016. According to the research, cannabis infused solid edibles were widely used and the segment expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.8% over the forecast period. Cannabis Strategic Ventures (OTC: NUGS), Kush Bottles, Inc. (OTC: KSHB), Vitality Biopharma, Inc. (OTC: VBIO), GW Pharmaceuticals plc. (NASDAQ: GWPH), 22nd Century Group Inc. (NYSE: XXII)
Starting January 1st 2018, the state of California has started legal sales of cannabis products for recreational use. A report by CNBC quotes MedMen CEO and co-founder Adam Bierman, who explains the current state of the industry, “There is so much excitement now around legalization nationally coming in Canada. There is so much excitement about the fact that California, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts all legalized recreational marijuana… The Canadian public markets offer access to a lot of capital, with a lot of certainty and a lot of speed, and there is this appetite among global investors to invest in a U.S. play… Specifically, global investors want to invest in a U.S. play that has California exposure. Now is the time where it makes the most sense.”
Cannabis Strategic Ventures (OTC: NUGS) on February 20th announced that, “it has signed an agreement to acquire Pure Applied Sciences and its brand PureOrganix, a line of organic and pure cannabis oils and related accessories. The acquisition, which has been finalized, will include all of Pure Applied Sciences intellectual properties, including its formulations and technologies. Additionally, the principals of Pure Applied, Christian Young and Mylad Piroozabacht, as well as their executive teams, will be joining the combined company.
Mr. Simon Yu, CEO of Cannabis Strategic commented, “Over the past few months we have accomplished much. Today, we announce the completion of our first acquisition. Pure Applied Sciences was extremely attractive to us because of its extensive portfolio of ultra-high quality products. It’s difficult for many small companies to conform with Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) and to meet FDA guidelines for Active Pharmaceuticals Products (API), but this team has excelled in this area. It’s an important aspect of the product line that will allow for significant expansion. Consumers in the cannabis space demand quality. Pure has built its business around this demand for quality.”
Mr. Yu continued, “We are also very pleased the main principals of Pure are joining the Cannabis Strategic team. Chris has considerable marketing experience that will help us grow across all our product lines and Mylad has the science background to head our development efforts. We welcome them to the NUGS family.”
Chris Young obtained his JD from Southwestern Law and his MBA from the University of Southern California. Chris started his career as an entertainment attorney and moved into the fashion industry as a co-founder of a woman’s fashion brand, which was acquired after two years after operations began. His second endeavor was as a co-founder of Coordinates Collection, a luxury jewelry brand, which was sold in over 500 stores across 10 countries. This firm was acquired by RGNP and Chris moved on to become a strategy and branding consultant developing CPG products for celebrity-led brands. He is currently a startup advisor for local Los Angeles Venture Funds.
Mylad Piroozabacht obtained his Masters and Bachelors of Science degrees in microbiology from North Carolina State. After graduating, Mylad held multiple positions as Chief Scientific Officer and Scientific Director for extraction companies: Rocky Mountain Hemp, Puroil, Axis Laboratories and Livoleo Life Technologies. He is responsible for developing cannabis testing guidelines and extraction procedures in both Oregon, Colorado and California during his tenures as a lead scientist.
The NUGS management team believes there is a huge opportunity in the industry to carve out and control specific industry niches and to create cannabis consumer brands. Cannabis Strategic believes expansion into branded products presents significant opportunities for the Company to expand its business model. According to Tom Adams of BSD Analytics, the Cannabis retail market is expected to hit $11 billion in 2018 and $21 billion in 2021. While the Company continues to build its outsourced employment and staffing division, the Company plans to continue pursuing investment opportunities in the areas of real estate, cultivation, extraction, distribution, packaging, dispensary operations, and branded products.”
Kush Bottles, Inc. (OTCQB: KSHB) is a leading provider of packaging, supplies, vaporizers, accessories and branding solutions for the regulated cannabis industry. On February 6, 2018, the company announced that it was selected by Future Farm Technologies Inc. (CSE: FFT; OTCQX: FFRMF) to develop a suite of customized packaging and comprehensive compliance solutions to support its expansion into new territories. Future Farm is rapidly expanding its footprint in the cannabis and hemp sectors nationwide, with a focus on California, Massachusetts, Maine, Florida and Puerto Rico. Kush Bottles will support Future Farm’s expansion and offer branded packaging solutions to ensure Future Farm maintains compliance with state-level regulations at all times.
Vitality Biopharma, Inc. (OTCQB: VBIO) is dedicated to unlocking the power of cannabinoids for the treatment of serious neurological and inflammatory disorders. On January 17, 2018, the company announced it has submitted an orphan drug designation request for VITA-100 to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Upon approval, VITA-100 would be designated as an orphan drug for the treatment of pediatric ulcerative colitis (UC), a form of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease. The U.S. Orphan Drug Act (ODA) of January 1983 is meant to encourage development of drugs for rare diseases, and review by the FDA’s Office of Orphan Products Development can expedite the evaluation and eventual market approval of products that demonstrate significant promise for the treatment of these conditions. Vitality Biopharma’s gut-targeted cannabosides enable delivery of THC without psychoactivity or intoxication, which may enable more widespread use of cannabinoids for treatment of pediatric digestive disorders.
GW Pharmaceuticals plc. (NASDAQ: GWPH) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing novel therapeutics from its proprietary cannabinoid product platform in a broad range of disease areas. On February 5, 2018, the company announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has accepted for review the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for Epidiolex® (cannabidiol) for adjunctive treatment of seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) and Dravet syndrome. This acceptance follows submission of the MAA in December 2017. Epidiolex, GW’s lead cannabinoid product candidate is a pharmaceutical formulation of purified cannabidiol (CBD), which is in development for the treatment of several rare childhood-onset epilepsy disorders. GW has submitted a New Drug Application with the FDA for Epidiolex as adjunctive treatment for seizures associated with LGS and Dravet syndrome, which has been assigned a goal date of 27 June 2018 and, if approved, the medicine is expected to be available by prescription in the second half of 2018.
22nd Century Group Inc. (NYSE: XXII) is a plant biotechnology company focused on genetic engineering and plant breeding which allows the increase or decrease of the level of nicotine in tobacco plants and the level of cannabinoids in hemp/cannabis plants. 22nd Century’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Botanical Genetics, LLC, entered into a worldwide license agreement with Anandia Laboratories Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, the Company was granted an exclusive sublicense in the United States and a co-exclusive sublicense in the remainder of the world, excluding Canada, to patents and patent applications relating to the cannabis plant that are required for the production of cannabinoids, the major active ingredients in the cannabis plant. The Anandia sublicense continues through the life of the last to expire patent, which is expected to be 2035.
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