Over the years, there have been a huge increase in the number of Canada’s licensed marijuana producers under the Access to cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) since legalization back in 2001. The Canadian cannabis market has increased in value over the past years leading in to the fact that legalization of recreational marijuana is expected to become law in Canada in July 2018. Within the marijuana market, quite a few large companies are securing smaller production companies to increase their market share and prepare for the expected demand due to legalization in the near future.
In this article, we will be discussing four Canada’s licensed marijuana producers out of the countless number of companies and their respective impacts on the medical marijuana industry in Canada.
Canada’s Top Marijuana Players in the Industry
Aurora: This is a Canadian medical marijuana producer that is based in British Columbia, Canada with a market capitalization of $699 million. Aurora specializes in the production and distribution of cannabis and cannabis oil, sale and distribution to patients who are legally entitled to medical marijuana in Canada. The company is devoted to providing all of its patients with the highest standard of product quality, affordable pricing and customer service.
This company is one of the largest and fastest growing sellers of cannabis and oil in Canada and owns several subsidiaries that are located in Canada and other countries such as the United States, Australia, and Germany.
Aurora Cannabis Inc. is planning to expand their market share by reaching an agreement with CanniMed Therapeutics Inc. to acquire their company in a 1.23 billion Canadian dollar cash and stock deal which would, in turn, be the largest merger yet in Canada’s cannabis industry and create world’s most valuable weed firm.
In addition to its expansion, Aurora has worked endlessly to grow their CanvasRx locations across Canada. Aurora works mostly on the production and distribution of cannabis while its CanvasRx works more on educating patients about cannabis as well as managing the relations between patients and doctors.
- Organigram: Organigram Holding Inc. is a venture exchange-listed firm based in Moncton, New Brunswick. Organigram holding Inc. is an interesting company that specializes in cannabis oil production, cannabis oil sale, dried cannabis cultivation and dried cannabis sales. The company sells strains that vary in price ($6-$9 as at the time of writing) which depends largely on the medical condition of their patients.
With the pronouncement that cannabis will be legalized for adult recreational use on, or before July 2018, organigram has succeeded in creating and developing different products which are currently doing well in the market.
This summer, Organigram will be one of the first three licensed producers to market in Edward Island and New Brunswick because they’ve been able to secure agreements with the two Canadian provinces. The company also entered into an exclusive agreement last year with TGS Colorado which is an integrated seed-to-sale firm, regarded as having the best-in-class technological proficiency in extract technology. This relationship with TGS means the company is able to bring products to market faster than their other licensed producers who don’t have this level of infrastructure in position.
- Canopy Growth: Canopy Growth Corporation is a world-leading diversified medical marijuana producer that is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They operate a collection of diverse brands and strains variety, connected with some of the primary titles of the sector. Their core brands include Tweed (which is world’s most recognized marijuana production brand), Spectrum Cannabis, Bedrocan, and many more.
As the world begins to legalize marijuana use, Canopy Growth Corp. is hoping to change the face of pharmaceuticals by developing a variety of cannabinoid-based medicines that will come in the form of inhalers, pills, creams and solutions which will be used to treat patients with illnesses ranging from anxiety to epilepsy, though Canadians are able to get medical marijuana only in oil or smokable form.
Canopy Growth Corp began its expansion into the pharmaceutical market in 2016 due to Canada’s relaxed laws on marijuana. The company is planning massive production facility in Denmark to cater the Scandinavian country’s medical marijuana patients. This company has also offered to acquire Toronto-based Mettrum Health Corp. for $430 million, which will in turn form a marijuana mega-company with a patient base that would take over the Canadian market.
- CanniMed Therapeutics: CanniMed Therapeutics Ltd. was the first producer to be licensed under the Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR), the antecedent to the current Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR). CanniMed Therapeutics is a public licensed medical marijuana producer whose primary focus is cannabis oil. The company was established in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada in the year 1988 and has a market capitalization of $1.2 billion.
CanniMed Therapeutics announced back then in 2017 that it has entered into a definitive agreement with a company called PharmaChoice for the supply of former’s herbal, oils and oil derivative marijuana product to the later’s pharmacy locations across the country.
CanniMed Therapeutics received a license from Health Canada to produce Medical Cannabis Capsules for patients, as it enhances patient’s convenience and will be formulated to produce a long-lasting effect in the patient’s body system.
This company also entered into a marketing and distribution agreement with Fagron NV, a leading global pharmaceutical compounding company in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Under the agreement, both companies will work closely together in exploiting Fagron’s general groundwork to supply CanniMed’s medical marijuana products in Germany and other identified countries.
As of the time of writing this article, Aurora, Organigram, Canopy growth and CanniMed Therapeutics has stock prices of $10.95, $4.56, $32.52 and $37.76 respectively.
The medical marijuana industry will likely continue compared to the recreational marijuana industry even at the time of legalization. The key message is that medical marijuana is a reliable, safe and cost-effective product for symptom relief