- Exclusive licensing of certain of Avicanna’s advanced and evidence-based CBD topical products including its deep tissue and skin care formulations.
- Heritage to lead medical sales and commercialization across non-competing medical channels in Canada under the Opticann brand.
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TORONTO, Aug. 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avicanna Inc. (“Avicanna'' or the “Company“) (TSX: AVCN) (OTCQX: AVCNF) (FSE: 0NN), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of plant-derived cannabinoid-based products, is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into an exclusive intellectual property licensing and royalty agreement (the “Licensing Agreement”) with Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp. (“Heritage”) 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. For the exclusive license, 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 fee for each product manufactured and a royalty for each product sold to its medical cannabis 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 beginning of a highly successful commercial partnership,” said Umar Syed, President of Heritage’s medical division.
In commenting on the Licensing Agreement, Aras Azadian, CEO of Avicanna said, “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.”