Page 10
News
Street Roots • March 23-29, 2018
A worker collects
cuttings from a
marijuana plant at
the Canopy Growth
Corporation facility
in Smiths Falls,
Ontario, Canada,
fanuary 4, 2018.
REUTERS/CHRIS W A T T IE
Pot Pharm
Unlike the U.S., Canada has created a fertile environment for marijuana producers based in the country to
thrive. Now, those firm s want to branch out and start challenging big pharma for market share.
BY NICHOLA SAMINATHER
C O N T R IB U IN G W R IT E R
anopy Growth Corp, one of the
world’s biggest medical marijuana
producers, now wants to take on the
world’s pharmaceutical giants.
The Canadian firm launched Canopy
Health Innovation in late 2016 to build a
portfolio of patented and federally approved
cannabinoid-based medicines. The venture
is one of a small but growing number of
companies aiming to compete with
established drugs treating diseases ranging
from anxiety and chronic pain to multiple
sclerosis and childhood epilepsy.
They’re developing research-backed
formulations to be sold as pills, inhalers,
solutions and creams, with the goal of
convincing doctors and insurers to embrace
marijuana as a mainstream medicine.
“You’ll see a lot of companies like Canopy
Health starting to form, and they’re
basically going to create medical cannabis
2.0,” Canopy Health Chief Executive Marc
Wayne said in an interview. “There is a gold
rush for cannabis intellectual property, and
it’s accelerating.”
Canada’s relaxed regulations, mature
marijuana industry and free-flowing capital
offer such firms a unique opportunity to
advance research without the legal and
political risks that bog down cannabis firms
in the United States and elsewhere.
While U.S. federal law continues to ban
weed in all forms, Canada approved medical
pot in 2001 and will legalize recreational use
C
this year. Its government welcomes and
even finances the research and clinical trials
needed to fully legitimize medical cannabis.
Canada is also one of only two nations -
along with the Netherlands - that currently
exports marijuana, allowing firms here to
take immediate advantage of recent medical
pot legalizations in more than 20 countries.
Research firm Brightfield Group last year
forecast the global medical cannabis market
would quadruple to $31.4 billion by 2021.
Offerings in today’s Canada medical
marijuana market differ little from those
used recreationally - the smokable plant and,
more recently, oil extracts. More than 70
companies have licenses from the federal
drug regulator, Health Canada, to cultivate,
produce and sell medical marijuana, with
more than half those licenses granted in
2017 or 2018.
Canopy Health and other firms now aim
to craft new formulations with varying
cannabinoid levels; to find the best dosage
delivery systems, such as rapid-release or
long-acting tablets or metered-dose inhalers;
or to combine cannabinoids with other
drugs or supplements to improve
effectiveness.
Canada opened the door to serious
medical research in 2015 with the approval
of cannabinoid extract sales, allowing for the
isolation of cannabis components that could
form the basis of more sophisticated
medicines.
The pace of research - and investment -
quickened last year after the government
introduced legislation to legalize
recreational use. Equity offerings by
Canadian marijuana firms tripled to nearly
$1 billion in 2017.
Canopy Health raised C$16 million
($12.77 million) last year to finance medical
trials alongside other institutions and
researchers, Wayne said. It has filed 27
patents for treatment of insomnia relief and
is now working on remedies for anxiety. The
firm expects to have its first federal
approval by about 2020.
Canopy Growth, a publicly listed firm
valued at C$5.3 billion, retains a 46 percent
stake in the new private company.
Canopy Health’s competitors include
CanniMed, which last month agreed to be
acquired by Aurora Cannabis to form what
would be a C$6 billion firm, the world’s
biggest marijuana producer by market value.
CanniMed has partnered with universities
including McGill University in Montreal and
the University of Manitoba on research into
managing symptoms of multiple sclerosis,
osteoarthritis and pediatric epilepsy.
“Canadian companies are taking the lead
because we’ve more freedom to operate and
can actually afford it now,” said Chief
Executive Officer Brent Zettl.
Other players forging ahead with medical
research include MedReleaf, Emerald
Health Therapeutics, Emblem Corp and
Tilray, an unlisted company owned by
private equity firm Privateer Holdings.
See POT, page 11