Cannabis is medicine. As the use of medicinal cannabis becomes a fact of life in not only North America, but the world, it is now widely recognized that cannabinoids (the active ingredients in the cannabis plant) have numerous medicinal applications.
Many cannabis companies are producing dried flower and related products for use as medicine, and more and more often, these products are being officially prescribed by licensed physicians. This is greatly beneficial to the patients using medicinal cannabis as well as being profitable for cannabis companies.
How do investors see the profits from such cannabinoid medications increase? Through patent protection. The “Patent Cliff” is an operational and financial nightmare for the pharmaceutical industry. In
2017 alone; Big Pharma faced the loss of patent protection on licensed drugs with total revenues of $26.5 billion.
These multinational drug companies have never been hungrier for new patent-protected drugs, to replenish their drug pipelines – and their bottom lines. As drug development costs soar, more and more often Big Pharma is choosing to buy patent-protected drugs rather than meeting those development needs organically.
One Company that is looking to cash-in on the opportunities presented by the Patent Cliff is
India Globalization Capital Inc. (
NYSE Market: IGC,
Forum). IGC describes itself as a “cannabis pharmaceutical company”, entering the cannabis space in 2013. On
April 10, 2018, the Company announced the filing of its
eighth U.S. patent application.
India Globalization Capital has pioneered the
development of Hyalolex, a cannabinoid-based treatment aimed at alleviating many of the symptoms suffered by Alzheimer’s patients. A drug industry publication from
October 2017 predicts sales of Alzheimer’s disease treatments to reach $14.8 billion by 2026.