VRTmost effective proprietary strains for specific diseases Marapharm owns 18 million shares and warrants in Veritas Pharma Inc. In an industry projected to have substantial growth within next few years, Veritas is among the first to apply a comprehensive scientific approach behind medical cannabis claims. Their mission is to develop the most effective proprietary cannabis strains for specific disease conditions, and to provide doctors and patients with conclusive scientific evidence to recommend and use medical cannabis with confidence.
Veritas’ research arm, Cannevert Therapeutics Ltd. has established the necessary laboratory space, qualified personnel, and access to necessary equipment for the chemical and pharmacologic analysis of numerous cannabis strains. Cannevert has a variety of animal models of disease conditions including pain, nausea, behavioural, safety (cardiac and respiratory) with complementary screening procedures in isolated cell cultures. In terms of chemistry, they have performed over 250 experiments thus far along with 150 pharmacological and biological studies. Two cannabis strains have been identified as potentially therapeutic; one for pain and the other for nausea. Based on these results, the focus has been to source and screen reputable clinical investigators and clinical trial organisations in Canada and around the World to help establish efficacy of these candidate strains in terms of their effects on humans and treatment of human diseases.
To support Veritas Pharma’s reputation and brand, it aims to protect its discoveries with patents and prepare scientific literature (e.g., conference abstracts, peer-reviewed journal articles) on its findings to educate the medical community. This scientific approach is also combined with concise market entry approach: Veritas, through its wholly owned subsidiary Sechelt Organic Marijuana Inc., aims to become a license producer and has had an ACMPR application pending with Health Canada since July 4th, 2014.