Chris Parry ArticleCanadian/Dutch medicinal cannabis power players Bedrocan (
TSX:V.BED,
Stock Forum) have received notification that their second site has been
greenlit by Health Canada for growing.
The information follows a trade halt a few hours ago (at the time of writing) and, though the MMPR approval is for production only, by my reading of things it will allow the company to sell through its existing MMPR, much as Tweed does with ‘production only’ approved Tweed Farms.
Approval of their facility has been the sole missing piece of the Bedrocan business plan to date, and will allow the company to begin offering its clients locally produced product, rather than the imported product previously brought in from its Dutch parent.
The move will also bring down base costs, help the company greatly expand its patient base, and lock down supply; an important benefit, as Bedrocan currently supplies much of Europe with its medicinal cannabis and could only spare so much for Canadians previously.
Also joining the production MMPR list is Alberta’s Aurora Medical Marijuana. CannTrust, a pharmacist-owned outfit in Vaughan Ontario, has been added to the
licensed to sell list, which now features 16 companies. Ten companies are listed on the production only list.
This activity demonstrates that there has been no halt to the Health Canada licensing process, despite industry assumptions that regulatory bureaucrats could be waiting until after the upcoming court injunction on ending the old MMAR system has been dealt with.
Aurora comes on as Alberta’s sole representative on the list.
The perhaps bigger piece of this news is the thawing it has brought the market has a whole. With so many investors assuming the taps were turned off for the foreseeable future at Health Canada, the new licenses demonstrate the opposite to be the case.
Supreme Pharmaceuticals (
CSE:C.SL,
Stock Forum), which is waiting for its final inspection, jumped 22.7% on the licensing news.
Much to the relief of just about everyone in the Canadian MMJ space, Creative Edge Nutrition (
OTO:FITX,
Stock Forum) has been officially told it will be rejected for a license, according to a Health Canada spokesman speaking to the
Globe and Mail,
CTV, and the
CBC, and has 20 days to appeal that decision.
The company, which is an outrageous and obvious pump and dump of the most blatant and fraudulent order, lost 40% of its value on the news, while some cultists bagholders continue to believe it’s all just a put-on, accusing the HC spokesman of being a hoax, and worse while claiming the media and political parties and bloggers (and me) are all in on the fix.
A company shareholder update posted today didn’t mention the words ‘rejected’ at all, instead phrasing it that the company “is pleased to announce it has been asked to provide additional information to Health Canada in support of its application.”
The update also cast aspersions on Health Canada staff for discussing the issue with the press, saying it has contacted the Office of the Privacy Commissioner on the matter.
The new CEO of the company announced last week (with a
vintage CEN news release that makes a variety of outrageous and lofty unverified claims) that it will now dominate the energy drink market. And has lined up a ton of celebrities. And that focus groups think the product is all sorts of awesomez. Stock has risen 25% since because some penny stock investors are touched in the head.
True Leaf Medicine (
CSE:C.MJ,
Stock Forum)
went public last week, with a nice MMJ-focused ticker symbol and two applications in the pipeline. The company has an application in for a 48k sq. ft. growing facility in Lumby B.C., and is chaired by former B.C. Premier and Vancouver Mayor Mike Harcourt.
You may recall Harcourt had previously been associated with Vodis Pharmaceuticals (
CSE:C.VP,
Stock Forum), earning 250k shares in the company before saying they “
don’t know s–t from shinola about business,” in the press.
Trueleaf made its first application for an MMPR approval back in July 2013, and received a Ready To Build for its first facility back in January 2014. A second application for facility #2 was lodged in April of that year. The stock opened at $0.14 and has since backslid to $0.11 on light volume.
InMed Pharmaceuticals (
CSE:C.IN,
Stock Forum), formerly Cannabis Technologies, has been eating its Wheaties of late, rocketing up from as low as $0.12 in late January to $0.30 today, on the back of continued good news out of its research activities.
The company has added
INM-750 to its therapy roster, this one used for the treatment of Epidermolysis Bullosa Simplex (EBS), a rare skin disorder The company is moving to pre-clinical trials of the treatment and add to its existing glaucoma and arthritis therapies.
The man behind InMed’s research platform, Dr Sazzad Hossain, Ph.D, M.SC, said in a news release, "EBS is a rare keratin mutation-related disease with no FDA approved treatment. The only options available to patients are wound care, pain management, and preventative bandaging. More severe forms of the disease lead to scarring, disfigurement, disability, and early death, usually before the age of 30."
InMed stock dropped hard in the last several months as a large stakeholder rolled out a long dumping, giving long holders a value buy-in. The recent upward shift has included a large amount of stock purchased out of the US and shows no sign of slowing volume.
Sob story: I held InMed stock late last year and just couldn’t sit tight through the long slide so I, regretfully, bailed before bottom. As we all know, the market punishes such abject cajone withdrawal, so I missed a large part of the run but am back in and holding for the long haul. Dr Sazzad is going to make retirement comfy.
Interesting side note: Those who got in on the
$500k PP at $0.10 a few weeks ago are laughing..
Remember Majescor Resources (
TSX:V.MJX,
Stock Forum), which was last year looking into weed but
ditched in early December to go find oil?
Bad timing.
Mettrum (
TSX:V.MT,
Stock Forum) announced
Q3 results, bringing in $689k in revs on nearly 100k grams sold at an average of $7.28 per. $1.3m in losses on 2200 clients. They’re also
moving into the consumer products space, grabbing Hempola, a hemp producer, for $250k and 15% of the company EBIDTA annually for the next five years.
Tweed (
TSX:V.TWD,
Stock Forum) also
released financial info yesterday, pushing them up 8%. Q4 revs were $641k with $357k of that in December. Orders are reportedly being turned around quickly. Whether those orders include product from the chocolate factory or elsewhere, I can’t say. But it’s good revenue is growing.. the industry at large needs it’s most prominent player to demonstrate viability.
Ontario-based health clinic play MedCannAccess is, I hear, orchestrating a deal. Watch this space.
Biggest deal in town with brokers right now? A value-add play that is five times over-subscribed and not about to need to raise more money any time soon.. Kariana Resources (
CSE:C.KAA,
Stock Forum). What's running through it?
THIS.
Good luck getting in, but if you want to try your luck, find broker
David Kearnes at GMP.
--Chris Parry
https://www.twitter.com/chrisparry
Read more at https://www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2015/02/19/medical-marijuana-update-bedrocan-gets-mmpr-inmed-on-tear#9oJr2UBbhsmSZbyJ.99