Will be a turnkey company10 Apr 2021 16:29
Melissa Sturgess is the Chief Executive Officer of UK company Ananda Developments plc, listed on London’s AQSE Growth Market, Aquis Stock Exchange’s market for earlier stage, entrepreneurial companies seeking access to growth capital.
She agrees that UK investors and entrepreneurs are cautious and that POCA is one factor. Nevertheless, the company has spent more than a year putting together the case for an application to the Home Office to grow medical cannabis initially for research and development purposes and ultimately for commercial supply to the UK medical cannabis sector and internationally.
Ananda is partnering with Dr Dedi Meiri’s laboratories at The Technion in Israel. Dr Meiri is working on a wide range of projects, ultimately focused on identifying which cannabinoids, flavonoids and terpenes are working in entourage to treat various indications.
“With the expertise we will gain growing and stabilising 65 strains of cannabis at scale, when the time comes for cannabis to be grown meaningfully in the UK, we will be one of the turnkey companies,” Sturgess says.
Given that most of the medicinal cannabis available in the UK is grown and processed elsewhere, Sturgess adds that patients, doctors and investors are increasingly interested in a UK supply of medical cannabis. “Our partners grew medicinal cannabis for GW Pharmaceuticals’ Epidiolex trials and so we have a very good opportunity to provide the UK industry with high quality product for both the API and unlicensed CBMP markets.”