TORONTO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp. (CSE: CANN) (OTCQX: HERTF) (“Heritage” or the “Company”), announces that the Company has entered into an exclusive intellectual property licensing and royalty agreement (the “Licensing Agreement”) with Avicanna Inc. (“Avicanna”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of plant-derived cannabinoid-based products. The Licensing Agreement is for the commercialization of a number of Avicanna’s advanced CBD-based topical products under Heritage’s medical cannabis brands (the “Branded Products”) targeting patients registered to purchase medical cannabis in Canada.
The Branded Products include Avicanna’s proprietary cannabinoid topical formulations developed through years of extensive research by Avicanna’s team of scientists. The specific products are all supported with pre-clinical studies in addition to two of the SKUs that are supported by completed human studies. The Branded Products are planned to launch by Q4 2021 through Heritage’s extensive medical sales channels in Canada and aim to address unmet medical needs of the mass market with evidence-based and standardized cannabinoid products.
Under the Licensing Agreement, which has an initial three-year term, Avicanna has exclusively licensed, subject to certain conditions and exceptions, the use of certain proprietary product formulations to Heritage to be marketed and sold under Heritage’s medical Opticann branded products in non-competing medical channels in Canada. Heritage is required to meet certain minimum sales requirements every year for each Branded Product licensed under the Licensing Agreement and will pay Avicanna a royalty for each product sold to its medical consumers.
“We are excited to add Avicanna’s innovative topical products to our portfolio of highly effective medical CBD products. They are a great strategic fit. We are very impressed with Avicanna’s diligent R&D approach for developing highly effective topical products formulated with pharmaceutical technology and which are supported with evidence of efficacy, much like the existing Opticann portfolio that includes oral products that use the patented VESIsorb® technology and sublingual CBD filmstrips that use the patented Versafilm® technology. The Licensing Agreement offers Heritage speed-to-market with highly effective topicals and we see this as the beginning of a highly successful commercial partnership,” said Umar Syed, President of Heritage’s medical division.
“We look forward to collaborating with the Heritage team to extend our proprietary and evidence-based topical formulations to more Canadian patients and expand into more medical channels nationwide. We believe that the alignment of both companies to offer the highest standards for cannabinoid-based medicine and education will yield fruitful and long-term commercial success,” stated Aras Azadian, CEO of Avicanna.
About Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp.
Heritage is a leading cannabis company offering innovative products to both the medical and recreational legal cannabis markets in Canada and the U.S., operating under two licensed manufacturing facilities in Canada. The company has an extensive portfolio of high-quality cannabis products under the brands Purefarma, Pura Vida, RAD, Premium 5, feelgood., CB4 and ArthroCBD.
About Avicanna Inc.
Avicanna is a diversified and vertically integrated Canadian biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of plant-derived cannabinoid-based products for the global consumer, medical, and pharmaceutical market segments.
Avicanna is an established leader in cannabinoid research and development, which it primarily conducts at its R&D headquarters in the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Centre, JLABS @ Toronto, Canada and in collaboration with leading Canadian academic and medical institutions. In addition to its developing pharmaceutical pipeline, Avicanna’s team of experts have developed and commercialized several industry leading product lines, including:
• RHO Phyto™: an advanced line of medical cannabis products containing varying ratios of CBD and THC currently available nationwide across Canada in medical channels in partnership with Medical Cannabis by Shoppers™, a subsidiary of Shoppers Drug Mart, and in adult use channels through provincial retailers. RHO Phyto is the first medical formulary of advanced “Cannabis 2.0” products, containing oils, sprays, capsules, creams, and gels, all developed with scientific rigour, manufactured under GMP standards and supported by pre-clinical data; and,
• Pura H&W™: an advanced and clinically tested line of functional CBD consumer derma-cosmetic products currently available nationwide across Canada in medical channels in partnership with Medical Cannabis by Shoppers™, a subsidiary of Shoppers Drug Mart, in adult use channels through provincial retailers in Canada and nation-wide across Colombia.
With ongoing clinical studies on its derma-cosmetic (Pura H&W), medical cannabis (RHO Phyto) and a pipeline of pharmaceutical products, Avicanna’s dedication to researching the important role that cannabinoids play in an increasingly wider scope of products has been at the core of the Company’s vision since its inception. Furthermore, Avicanna’s commitment to education is demonstrated through its annual medical symposium, the Avicanna Academy educational platform, and the My Cannabis Clinic patient program through its subsidiary company.
Avicanna manages its own supply chain including cultivation and extraction through its two majority-owned subsidiaries, Sativa Nativa S.A.S. and Santa Marta Golden Hemp S.A.S., both located in Santa Marta, Colombia. Through these sustainable, economical, and industrial scale subsidiaries, Avicanna cultivates, processes, and commercializes a range of cannabis and hemp cultivars dominant in CBD, CBG, THC, and other cannabinoids for use as active pharmaceutical ingredients. Avicanna’s Avesta Genetica program specializes in the development and optimization of rare cultivars for commercial production along with feminized seeds for global export. In June 2020, Avicanna made history with a shipment of hemp seeds to the United States of America by completing the first ever export of hemp seeds from Colombia.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF HERITAGE CANNABIS HOLDINGS CORP.
“David Schwede”
David Schwede
CEO
The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
