Greenfield MC
Medicinal cannabis company Greenfield MC has launched a new skincare brand with a focus on hemp and cannabis-enriched, clinical-grade products.
Formulated using Greenfield’s patented CannaComplex product, Vela Days utilises cannabis sativa seed extract, seed oil and callus lysate (first-generation cannabis stem cells).
The products include bio-clinical ingredients and the company offers refill options, packaging take-back and recycling initiatives as part of its commitment to sustainability. The first three products for sale on the Vela Days website are a cleansing balm, facial serum and fortifying oil serum.
Aruma Labs
Licensed medicinal cannabis producer, supplier and distributor Aruma Labs is aiming to raise A$1 million via crowdfunding.
Funds will be used to further scale the firm’s sales and marketing division, expand research and development, and operationalise its digital access and prescribing platform.
Founder and CEO Louis Williams said: “As the market continues to grow, our focus is on providing affordable, safe, and efficacious medicinal cannabis products as well as the tools, education, and clinical data that doctors need to confidently prescribe for their patients.”
Montu Group
Montu Group’s latest capital raise has closed with the company raising A$3.5 million in a crowdfunding campaign lasting less than two days. The company raised $2 million last year.
Managing director Christopher Strauch said: “To have raised a total amount of $5.5 million across both crowdfunding raises and breaking Australian records is a testament to both the success and growth of our company over the past 12 months.”
Funds will be invested in technological infrastructure and growing patient awareness.
Cannaponics
Medicinal cannabis cultivation and research company Cannaponics has announced a licensing partnership with New Age Nanotech, provider of cannabinoid drug-delivery technology Solutech.
The agreement allows for product development of both pharmaceutical and consumer products including Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API), final dose forms such as medicines and clinical trial products, complimentary medicines, cosmeceuticals, food supplements, nutraceuticals, and oral solutions.
Future product developments may include liquid shots, and ready-to-drink beverages containing cannabis-derived THC and/or CBD.
Cannaponics will have exclusive rights for Australia and non-exclusive rights for certain countries in Europe, South East Asia, Brazil and Israel.
It will be responsible for the development and commercialisation of cannabis products with the right to manufacture them in Australia.
Funder and managing director Rod Zakostelsky said the partnership will allow Cannaponics to “build on successful Phase 1 clinical trials and demonstrate clinical efficacy for proprietary treatments for patients in need”.
He added: “Our Solutech-based treatment range will complement our traditional medicinal cannabis formulations and may allow future expansion into the nutraceutical and beverage sectors as regulations allow.”
ECS Botanics
Hemp and medicinal cannabis company ECS Botanics has entered into a collaborative supply and toll processing agreement for cannabis biomass extraction with Sun Pharma.
The Australian-based subsidiary of global pharmaceutical company Sun Pharmaceutical Industries will supply resin to ECS as part of an offset agreement against the purchase of ECS’ 100%-owned SepareCo Supercritical carbon dioxide extractor and ancillary equipment.
ECS has agreed to supply a minimum of 600kg to 1,750kg of cannabis biomass over a five-year period, from which Sun Pharma will produce GMP-certified resin for ECS at its pharmaceutical facility in Port Fairy, Victoria.
Subject to the quantity of biomass supplied, revenue for ECS over the first five years of the 10-year agreement sits between A$6.6 million and $9.8 million.
ECS managing director Alex Keach said: “This arrangement positions ECS Botanics to capture a greater share of the existing medicinal cannabis oil market in Australia and overseas.”
Little Green Pharma
Little Green Pharma has been granted approval by the Danish Medicines Agency to produce its 16% THC ‘Billinol LGP’ cannabis flower medicine in Denmark.
The approval comes after a two-and-a-half-year application process, with Billinol becoming the first locally produced cannabis medicine in Denmark to receive the registration.
The medicine will be cultivated at LGP’s Danish facility and the company expects to distribute its first products to patients before the end of the year.
Billinol LGP will be sold in five-gram alubag pouches for around A$29 to $32 per gram.
LGP said the registration aligns with its strategy of being first to market in key territories, with plans to do the same in Poland in the future.
Rua Bioscience
New Zealand medicinal cannabis pharmaceutical company Rua Bioscience has received a NZ$379,000 grant from Callaghan Innovation to support a wide-ranging research project.
The grant will reinforce the company’s projected $1.25 million investment in plant science and product development, which is a requirement of the backing.
Rua Bioscience chief research officer Dr Jessika Nowak said the funding “will support one project feeding into a range of innovative ventures from cultivation to packaging”.
Rua Bioscience CEO Rob Mitchell added: “While we’ll get pharmaceutical-grade product to market as quickly as we can, we are looking at innovations right across the value chain to create exceptional products that prescribers and patients around the world actively seek out.”
