• Lithium Chile on second stage of four-hole drill project in the world’s highest-grade lithium jurisdiction
• Company expects to complete additional projects for assay by end of Q3
• Lithium demand from computerized electronics industry expected to remain strong during coming decade, with 650 percent growth forecast

The team at Lithium Chile, Inc. (TSX.V: LITH) (OTCQB: LTMCF) is excited by drilling progress at the company’s Salar de Ollague project in Chile. The first core and liquid samples from a four-hole drilling program on the property are being assayed (tested) for their potential in meeting electronic device battery needs across the planet.

Preliminary results from the first drill hole, announced on July 23, 2018, showed salinity in a zone between 110 and 290 meters deep. That’s 180 meters of brine, and the assays will identify any lithium content and determine the amount and the grade. Salars are dried lake beds, and the underground reservoirs of salt-rich brines found below such old lake beds have become a favorite target for mineral exploration. This is because the cost of extracting dissolved salts like lithium, potassium and sodium from the brines is far less than the cost of the historically favored hard rock extraction efforts.

How strong does the lithium brine need to be? Well, lithium brine is typically measured in parts per million (“ppm”), and this can alternatively be expressed as milligrams per liter (mg/L). At Albemarle’s massive lithium brine mine in the United States (http://ibn.fm/V2iZg), a concentration of lithium between 190 and 200 ppm has been sufficient for production. However, the first of Lithium Chile’s four drill holes is located about a kilometer from a test well where new fluid samples were recently assayed at 1,220 mg/L of lithium, according to a company news release (http://ibn.fm/0Ojjq). That 600 percent higher than Albermarle’s U.S. operation.

The samples taken from the first hole are being assayed at internationally-accredited laboratory ALS Patagonia’s nearby facilities in northern Chile for a chemical analysis that determines the concentration of lithium in the brine. Drilling has begun at the second hole, two kilometers southwest of the first.

The Ollague salar is 3,500 hectares (8,648.7 acres) in size. Lithium Chile’s portfolio includes 14 salar explorations and one laguna (surface water) complex, which makes it the largest lithium resource property owner in Chile, outside of SQM and the government itself. Due to its high grades and the sheer size of its lithium reserves, Chile is the most important player in the famed Lithium Triangle of Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, where 75 percent of the world’s available lithium is located. When Lithium Chile completes the four-hole drilling project that began in June, it plans to start similar projects at four other advanced-stage sites, potentially wrapping up before the end of Q3.

Lithium’s critical importance to the low-heat, lightweight batteries that supply high-energy outputs to the computerized electronics industry make it an attractive commodity with a forecast demand-supply imbalance that gives it a likelihood of strong pricing for the next decade. International metals and minerals research agency Roskill predicts that overall lithium demand will triple by 2027, with demand specific to the electronics industry rising 650 percent (http://ibn.fm/1Go2r).

This forecast reflects a change in consumption of the lightweight metal. While it has seen surging popularity in recent years for items such as mobile phones and laptop computers, global politics driving climate change policy are also creating a massive boom in electric vehicle and hybrid production and marketing. These regulatory shifts made the automotive industry the most influential entity affecting lithium industry forecasts last year, according to Roskill (http://ibn.fm/d5qGO).

“The new government (of Chile) has been clear in its support for the lithium sector and we are similarly encouraged by the strong community support we have received. This is an exciting new growth phase for the Company and our goal is to maximize our early-mover exploration advantage in Chile,” Lithium Chile President and CEO Steve Cochrane stated in a June news release (http://ibn.fm/m8Tue).

For more information, visit the company’s website at http://ibn.fm/LTMCF

• Majority of states have legalized marijuana in some form
• CSA creates financial barriers to cannabis sales, purchasing
• REFG pioneering payment solutions in rapidly expanding market

In what CNN analyst Z. Byron Wolf says may be a tipping point (http://ibn.fm/B8TKV), voters in Oklahoma — generally considered a politically conservative state — approved one of the most permissive medical marijuana initiatives in the country this summer. For those keeping track, that makes a total of 30 states and the District of Columbia (http://ibn.fm/4MArB) that now have laws broadly legalizing marijuana in some form. Once unimaginable, the legalization of the substance on a federal level is even looming as a possibility.

With this abrupt change in momentum comes unique challenges for companies looking to offer services to both providers and users of cannabis. One of the most significant challenges is payment for the plant.

Since President Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) into law in 1970, medical marijuana has been categorized as a Schedule 1 substance. Consequently, the U.S. Federal Reserve System refuses to charter any financial institution that serves marijuana businesses (http://ibn.fm/wq3BD), creating an environment where even “transporting or transmitting funds known to have been derived from the distribution of marijuana is illegal.”

Known as a first-tier merchant processing cannabis industry pioneer, Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions (OTC: REFG) offers one of the first and only comprehensive card processing operations of its kind to serve the state-sanctioned medical marijuana industry. The company’s state-of-the-art system tracks sales and tax collection and eliminates the need to deal in cash-only transactions.

REFG’s unique ‘StateSourced’ proprietary system enables authorized operation under FinCEN parameters, ensuring compliance with all regulatory frameworks. The first operation of its kind targeting the legal cannabis industry, StateSourced provides the convenience of modern commercial card processing resources. Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions offers its StateSourced card on a state-by-state basis. The card can be used to purchase product from an authorized vendor, providing a much-needed option for consumers and businesses alike.

To further its pioneering efforts, the company is also collaborating with First Bitcoin Capital Corporation to integrate First Bitcoin’s WeedCoin ($Weed) cryptocurrency with its StateSourced payment gateway. This intriguing collaboration will allow state-licensed marijuana establishments across the nation to accept both StateSourced debit cards and cryptocurrencies such as WeedCoin and bitcoin.

In addition, Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions also allows merchant clients to sign up for payment-processing services online quickly and easily. Within minutes, clients can start collecting payments, move funds to other banks with no compliance issues or spend funds directly from their accounts. Finally, the company offers bank accounts for state-licensed medical marijuana establishments through its www.Take.Green website.

“We believe we offer the nation’s only truly compliant payment and banking solution for state-sanctioned marijuana,” REFG CEO Jeremy Roberts stated in a news release.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Take.Green

• Millions worldwide affected by sleep disorders
• Sleep disorder market set to exceed $50 billion by 2020
• New marketing initiative kicks off with engagement of IR firm
• Updated Crystal Equity Research report now available

Counting sheep may soon be a thing of the past, for PreveCeutical Medical Inc. (CSE: PREV) (OTCQB: PRVCF) (FSE: 18H) has been awarded a worldwide license to manufacture, distribute and market three Health Canada-approved sleep aids (http://ibn.fm/rO8AV).  This milestone could not have come at a better time. Sleeping disorders affect around 40 percent of adults in Canada (approximately 15 million), according to a study conducted at the Université Laval, and the same unhappy state of affairs exists in the U.S. The America Sleep Association (ASA) estimates that at least 50 million American adults have a sleep disorder. All three of the products have undergone thorough testing and meet or exceed the requirements of the European Pharmacopoeia and Health Canada.

The Canadian study was led by Dr. Charles M. Morin, known for his work developing non-pharmacological therapies, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), to treat insomnia. After surveying some 2,000 Canadians (http://ibn.fm/WXAYw), Morin’s team found that “40% of respondents had experienced one or more symptoms of insomnia at least three times a week in the preceding month, i.e., taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, being awake for periods longer than 30 minutes during the night, or waking up at least 30 minutes before they had planned. Moreover, 20% of the participants said they were unsatisfied with the quality of their sleep, and 13.4% of respondents displayed all the symptoms required to diagnose insomnia.”

Such alarming statistics point to an underserved market, despite the plethora of sleep aid products available. “Americans spent an estimated $41 billion on sleep aids and remedies in 2015, and that’s expected to grow to $52 billion by 2020”, according to figures cited by Consumer Reports (http://ibn.fm/U9oHj).

The three Natural Health Products (NHPs) to be manufactured and marketed under the Licensing Agreement with Asterion Cannabis Inc. are ‘Blissful Sleep’, ‘Blissful Sleep Ex.’ and ‘Skullcap Serenity’. The deal allows PRVCF to use Asterion’s intellectual property (IP) to make or have made, use, distribute, sell, offer to sell and promote the products for an initial term of five years, renewable for five consecutive one-year terms. PreveCeutical will pay Asterion a royalty equal to 20 percent of the gross product sales.

The ingredients of the products under license are some traditionally used in herbal medicine as non-addictive sleep aids. Blissful Sleep and Blissful Sleep Ex contain hops (Humulus lupulus) and root of valerian (Valeriana officinalis), while Skullcap Serenity contains powdered or extracted American Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) leaves. Skullcap Serenity’s ingredients have been used in the past to calm nervousness and alleviate pain associated with menstrual cramps. For consumers using cannabis to relieve anxiety or to aid sleep, the products can be used as complementary therapies.

A recently released update of coverage for PreveCeutical is available at Crystal Equity Research (http://ibn.fm/BkN2J).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.PreveCeutical.com

• Acquisition includes 100 percent of issued and outstanding shares of privately-held HemPoland in an immediate accretive cash and share transaction worth $15.5 million with an additional $10.3 million committed to R&D, global expansion
• Agreement opens European gateway with distribution channels to over 750 million people and sales in over 700 locations across 13 countries
• In 2017, HemPoland produced more than 32,000 kg of organic dried flower and 310 kg of organic CBD oils from over 1,250 acres of cultivation
• Deal accelerates TGOD’s strategic plan to become the world’s largest organic cannabis brand

In a move that dramatically accelerates its strategic entry into Europe’s lucrative organic cannabis market, The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (TSX: TGOD) (OTCQX: TGODF) announced on Tuesday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire HemPoland, a European manufacturer and marketer of premium organic CBD oils (http://ibn.fm/tfHhi). The $25.8 million deal, which includes an immediate accretive cash and share transaction in addition to an infusion of funding for research and development, gives the cannabis-focused research and development company an enviable foothold in Europe’s multibillion dollar cannabis market, as detailed by Brian Athaide, CEO of TGOD.

“HemPoland is a key component to a number of strategic acquisitions and planned partnerships focused on expanding our global distribution network. This acquisition will significantly add to the Company’s top and bottom line,” Athaide said in announcing the agreement. “Gaining market share with CBD products now, in the EU, with over 700 locations allows TGOD to establish immediate brand awareness across all verticals including infused beverages. This is an accretive acquisition and gateway to Europe’s 750 million people accelerating our plan of becoming the world’s largest organic cannabis brand.”

Global spending on legal cannabis products is projected to grow from $20 billion in 2018 to more than $63 billion by 2024, according to Statista (http://ibn.fm/aNowu). Growth in the recreational and medical cannabis space continues to pick up steam as countries around the world adjust regulatory guidelines and define laws allowing cannabis products to be sold and consumed. In October, the world will be watching as Canada becomes the first G7 country to legalize recreational cannabis nationwide.

HemPoland, a leading European manufacturer and marketer of premium organic CBD oils, is led by one of Europe’s most widely recognized CBD experts, founder and CEO Maciej Kowalski. This strategic acquisition provides TGOD with access to HemPoland’s vast distribution network, premium Cannabigold brand and state-of-the-art hemp oil extraction technologies, in addition to an established pathway into the European market for TGOD’s medical and recreational products and licensing deals.

“We are pleased to join forces with the premier brand in organic cannabis, TGOD, to scale the growth of our business both domestically and internationally,” Kowalski said in a joint news release. “The market and demand for premium organic cannabis and CBD oil is just the beginning, ultimately leading to a variety of higher margin products. Having access to TGOD’s capital, licensing deals, experienced leadership team, and intellectual property will significantly drive momentum for our brand and our company. We are proud to be part of the TGOD family and look forward to becoming the global leaders in organic cannabis.”

HemPoland was the first company in Poland to obtain a state license allowing it to grow hemp and manufacture CBD oil products. The company is vertically integrated with over 1,250 acres of cultivation and multiple commercial scale extraction units, producing more than 32,000 kg of organic dried flower and 310 kg of organic CBD oils. Since its founding in 2014, HemPoland’s expanding distribution network, diverse wholesale model and robust ecommerce platform has allowed the company to grow quickly across the European Union.

The acquisition cost is comprised of $7.75 million in cash and 1,968,323 restricted TGOD shares presently worth $7.75 million, with an additional $10.3 million cash investment to further product development, fund research and development and continue rapid European expansion. The closing of this transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Established in 2012, TGOD’s motto, “Making Life Better,” can be seen in its strategic partnerships, top quality management team and dedication to organic farming and principles. Committed to becoming the global leader in delivering organic cannabis solutions that enhance people’s lives, TGOD consistently adheres to the highest levels of excellence.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.TGOD.ca

• ATHC subsidiary adds low-cost credit card processing, business solutions programs amid heightened marketing efforts
• Company adds loan assets to increase funding for alternate lending clients
• President anticipates revenue generation in Q3 amid drive to serve entrepreneurs, boost synergy among subsidiaries

As end-to-end business solutions company Accelerated Technologies Holding Corp. (OTC: ATHC) advances its portfolio toward revenue generation, it is expanding the low-cost merchant services that it makes available to small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) through subsidiary Intelagy (http://ibn.fm/nm18t). Intelagy offers affordable subscription-based credit card processing, branding, marketing and analytical tools to SMB owners that better enable them to compete in today’s market environment with resources that may typically be more available to bigger players.

In a July 31 news release announcing the filing of Accelerated Technologies Holding’s Q2 financials (http://ibn.fm/pKUkl), the company noted that Intelagy launched the first of many marketing campaigns for its services amid the expansion of its payment processing project. It also reported that subsidiary FinBridge, which provides loan capital to independent sales organization (ISO) and merchant cash advance (MCA) lenders, posted about $250,000 in loan funding (http://ibn.fm/HCkve) in a boost to company assets, and that ATHC has completed its proprietary customer relationship management (CRM) systems to help its clients use data analysis to boost their relationships with current and potential customers.

“We are pleased to inform shareholders that we are ahead of schedule in regard to executing our merchant servicing strategy and look forward to begin generating revenue via affordable subscription based small business solutions in Q3 as we continue to add shareholder value,” Accelerated Technologies Holding Corp. President Kevin Kading stated in a news release.

ATHC’s portfolio also includes subsidiaries XStreamCorp, a reality gaming social network that is adapting proprietary technologies to dramatically change the player experience in online gaming through streaming video, audio and messaging capabilities, and IconXchange, which aims to provide a decentralized, flexible infrastructure for human funding through blockchain-based coins and tokens.

The company provides consulting and technological resources along with venture capital to help entrepreneurs with potential to build great companies, particularly through the use of Internet-based cloud-computing, software as a service (SaaS), mobile dynamics, storage, databases and other back-end systems. With the addition of Intelagy to the family, Accelerated Technologies Holding will continue structuring in synergy between its subsidiaries to further establish enterprising solutions for SMBs while driving its own corporate growth to maximize shareholder value.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ATHCorp.com

• FinCanna advances $2.25 million to Refined Resin Technologies and ezGreen Compliance
• California sales account for one-third of U.S. cannabis market
• California market projected to grow by CAGR of 23 percent to $6.5 billion by 2020

California is now home to the largest legal cannabis market in the world. A pioneer of medical marijuana, which it legalized in 1998, the state has gone a step further by legalizing adult use of marijuana as of January 1, 2018. As a result, sales, already accounting for one-third of legal cannabis sales revenues in the U.S., are projected to reach $4.3 billion in 2018 and continue to grow to $6.5 billion by 2020, according to Arcview Research & New Frontier Data. But such rapid growth won’t be possible unless the industry can attract funding, which means that the services provided by specialty financing company FinCanna Capital Corp. (CSE: CALI) (OTCQB: FNNZF) will likely be in high demand. FinCanna Capital, a royalty company for the licensed U.S. medical cannabis industry, provides capital to licensed medical cannabis companies in exchange for a percentage of future cash flows under a royalty financing model.

FinCanna Capital might have taken a leaf from the mining industry playbook, since royalty companies, sometimes referred to as streaming companies, are active in the precious metals industry. They fund the exploration and production activities of miners and, in return, receive rights over a percentage of future revenue streams. FinCanna’s modus operandi will be similar. The company will provide upfront advances to cannabis companies in return for a future stream of royalty payments.

Royalty financing offers several benefits to startup cannabis companies. Compared to equity financing from private or public investors, it can be a more palatable solution for shareholders, since it requires no transfer or dilution of equity. Accordingly, owners are also at less risk of losing control of their businesses. In royalty financing, investors own a piece of the company’s revenue stream rather than a piece of the company itself.

Royalty financing may also be less burdensome than debt. With a loan or bond, interest payments are usually fixed and can be difficult to change if business conditions deteriorate. However, flexibility is built into the royalty financing structure, since royalty payments are linked to revenues or cash flows.

FinCanna is already making its presence felt. The company recently announced that it had advanced $1.25 million, an initial tranche of capital, to Refined Resin Technologies (http://ibn.fm/RxntR). Refined Resin is retrofitting a legally zoned, large, state-of-the-art medical cannabis extraction laboratory in Oakland, California, that’s expected to be in operation by late 2018 or early 2019. Refined Resin has extensive experience in extraction, manufacturing and business operations and intends to be premier producers of bulk quantities of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) distillate and various high-value concentrates produced via hydrocarbon-based solvent extraction.

Around the same time, FinCanna also revealed that it had advanced $1 million to ezGreen Compliance, which offers a state-of-the-art enterprise compliance and point-of-sale software solution for licensed medical cannabis dispensaries and cultivators (http://ibn.fm/OqLBD).

FinCanna also announced the appointment of John Campbell to its advisory board. Campbell has over 35 years of experience in the investment industry, and currently serves as chairman and CFO of TriView Capital, one of Canada’s largest Exempt Market Dealers (http://ibn.fm/BhWGN).

FinCanna’s first investment in California, Cultivation Technologies, recently executed an agreement with Phoenix Tears LLC, to be the exclusive manufacturer and distributer of official Phoenix Tears THC-based products in California. The Phoenix Tears-branded portfolio of THC based products will initially include a full spectrum of oil dispensers, vaporizer cartridges and vaporizer kits, as well as topicals (http://ibn.fm/M0rsM).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.FinCannaCapital.com

• PRO 140 has been shown effective in inhibiting the growth of a human colon carcinoma cell line (SW480) in a prominent mouse model
• PRO 140 extended the lives of treated mice and reduced tumor growth by more than 50 percent
• CytoDyn was recently featured favorably in a report by a leading independent small cap media portal

Biotechnology company CytoDyn Inc. (OTCQB: CYDY) recently announced exciting progress (http://ibn.fm/thpLl) in the development of PRO 140 (leronlimab), its novel humanized CCR5 monoclonal antibody, which has multiple therapeutic indications including treating HIV, cancer and inflammatory conditions.

In preclinical studies conducted over the past year, PRO 140 was shown effective in inhibiting the growth of a human colon carcinoma cell line (SW480) in a prominent mouse model. The statistically significant results will provide a basis for the filing of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a clinical trial of PRO 140 in colon carcinoma patients, which CytoDyn plans to file within the next few weeks.

In the studies, two different strains of immuno-incompetent mice were used to grow SW480 human tumor cells, with different doses of PRO 140 being used as part of the studies. The SW480 cell line was derived from a patient with colon adenocarcinoma; like many human cancers, the cell line was CCR5-positive.

In comparison with the control mice, the lives of the mice treated with PRO 140 were extended, and tumor growth decreased by more than 50 percent, which was statistically significant. The results were dose-dependent and were repeated in separate experiments. Preclinical studies that are currently ongoing are defining the mechanisms involved in PRO 140’s anti-tumor efficacy.

CytoDyn believes that CCR5 is a crucial receptor in the growth and invasiveness of human malignancies, and that premise is supported by these studies. In addition to CytoDyn’s recent announcement regarding PRO 140’s potential in metastatic breast cancers (http://ibn.fm/cCHM1), the company believes that these results in colon cancer further support that, if approved, PRO 140 may offer patients with breast and colon cancers an important potential therapeutic option.

In addition to filing an IND to commence studies of PRO 140 for treating colon carcinoma, CytoDyn will continue exploring the biological pathways involving CCR5 to identify other potential therapeutic applications for PRO 140.

In other news from CytoDyn, a favorable report about the company was recently published (http://ibn.fm/wXIwz) by leading independent small cap media portal EmergingGrowth.com. The report detailed the disruptive potential of PRO 140 in targeting HIV, along with its other potential clinical applications, and also discussed CytoDyn’s market valuation and current undervalued status.

In further company news, CytoDyn has noted that, upon the closing of its proposed acquisition of ProstaGene, Richard G. Pestell, Ph.D, M.D., is expected to be appointed as CytoDyn’s chief medical officer. Pestell is currently serving as the CEO of ProstaGene and as president of the Pennsylvania Cancer and Regenerative Medicine Research Center.

CytoDyn has also appointed Michael A. Klump, president and CEO of Argonne Capital Group, to its board of directors, as noted in a recent press release (http://ibn.fm/toYyP).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.CytoDyn.com

• Revenues up by 54 percent in second quarter
• Gross profit climbs by 17 percent
• Zero Cost Program sign-ups drive asset growth

The German pop group Snap! may have been singing for Zenergy Brands, Inc. (OTC: ZNGY) with its 1990 hit ‘I’ve Got the Power’, for the Texas-based company undoubtedly has. Operating in the emerging smart energy, conservation and utility markets, Zenergy provides a suite of conservation-based products and services that enable clients to achieve sustainability goals, reduce carbon emissions and improve their bottom lines. The company’s cutting-edge Zero Cost Program™, which offers energy conservation, smart controls and efficiency-based products and services to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal end-use customers, reduces utility consumption by up to 60 percent. Zenergy’s Q2 financials show that customers are increasingly considering this a winning proposition.

For the three months ended June 30, 2018, Zenergy had revenues of $464,404, an increase of 54 percent over Q1 revenues of $301,809. This revenue growth was due primarily to the company’s retail electricity services and energy conservation and efficiency contracts. Gross revenue also increased, climbing 17 percent to $109,315 over the previous quarter (http://ibn.fm/tBPPC). Zenergy’s trademarked Zero Cost Program™, wherein each customer agreement represents a long-term contracted revenue stream, has been the primary driver of the company’s growth.

Zenergy’s year-to-date revenue has now reached $766,213; it was just $10,126 for the same period last year, while assets as of June 30, 2018, have climbed to $3,959,862, up from a mere $379,763 for the same prior year period. These results indicate rapidly increasing acceptance of Zenergy’s energy solutions, particularly those under the Zero Cost Program.

The Zero Cost Program is a financing mechanism that allows customers to reduce water, natural gas and electricity consumption, with no out-of-pocket cost, through the implementation of proven conservation technologies. A variety of smart control technologies are employed, including building automation, LED lighting solutions, refrigeration optimization, efficient water systems, EC motor controls, demand-side management and load factor correction.

The Zero Cost Program was developed based on an industry standard agreement known as a Managed Energy Services Agreement (MESA). Under the MESA, Zenergy acts as an intermediary between the customer and the utility and develops, procures financing for, and installs and maintains energy efficiency measures and equipment at the client’s facilities. The MESA, a variation of an Energy Services Agreement (ESA) that’s rapidly gaining popularity, is expected to last a minimum of five years, with an average of seven years’ duration. However, unlike an ESA, under a MESA, the energy provider takes on broader energy management of a customer’s facility, including the assumption of responsibility for utility bills.

With an ESA, an energy provider sets a floor for the customer’s energy consumption and lays out projected savings after retrofitting. After the retrofits are installed, actual energy and cost savings are measured. The customer then pays the ESA provider a charge per unit of energy saved that is set below its baseline utility price, resulting in immediate reduced operating expenses. The ESA payment can be structured either as a percentage of the customer’s utility rate or as a fixed dollar amount per kilowatt-hour saved. The ESA provider retains ownership and maintains the equipment throughout the ESA to ensure reliability and performance. New efficiency measures can be added throughout the duration of the contract, at the end of which the customer can elect to purchase the equipment at fair market value, extend the contract or return the equipment.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ZenergyBrands.com

• Providing first and only comprehensive card processing operation in the cannabis industry
• Diversifying commitment beyond a payment solution and increasing shareholder value from seed to sale
• Expanding and strengthening advisory board to achieve corporate objectives

The expedited growth and demand of legal marijuana operations has made it difficult for dispensaries to manage all aspects of their operations. There are many moving parts that go into remaining compliant with FinCEN and the Cole Memo, maintaining safety in the handling of funds for a traditionally cash only industry and managing customer satisfaction and quality control.

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions (OTC: REFG) is providing clients an end-to-end management system called Green. Merchant clients can register online for a total banking solution for cannabis-related businesses. Green is one of the first and only comprehensive card processing operations of its kind to serve the state-sanctioned medical marijuana industry. This state-of-the-art system takes payment directly from customers, tracks sales and tax collection, pays bills and payroll, eliminates cash-only transactions, integrates ecommerce shopping carts for online orders and more. The Green platform also provides online bank accounts to help cannabis providers deal with the problem of limited or no bank support due to federal regulations that are still in place. Green is at the core of REFG as it seeks to assist merchant clients in economically sustainable business.

The company has diversified its commitment to the cannabis industry beyond Green and increased shareholder value through involvement in every step of quality control, from seed to sale.  REFG has expanded its footprint and value within the cannabis industry through the acquisition of new strands, land for cultivation, a proprietary organic growth accelerator, the deployment of mobile hemp CBD extraction labs and a continued commitment to the Green cashless payment solution.

After careful consideration, REFG first chose to expand its footprint in the state-sanctioned cannabis space through the acquisition of SpeedyGrow, a Wyoming corporation with licenses to grow and process hemp in Colorado. This acquisition included two marijuana strains and SpeedyVeg, an organic soil nutrient blend combining over 70 trace minerals to accelerate growth, maximize yield and produce healthy plants (http://ibn.fm/nbyhU). Since acquiring SpeedyGrow and beginning cultivation in Colorado, REFG has announced plans to grow industrial hemp in Vermont and expand into Utah (http://ibn.fm/JoXwA).

The deployment of mobile hemp CBD extraction labs, through an agreement made with a subsidiary of Paper Lantern LLC, will provide a competitive edge in the industry to hemp farms owned and operated by REFG, as well as farms that have entered into processing agreements with the company. These mobile labs offer economic benefit through the elimination of redundant layered costs, added convenience, improved processing efficiency and enhanced quality control, as well as an environmentally friendly reduction in energy consumption (http://ibn.fm/EmUSK).

REFG is expanding and strengthening its advisory board as it continues on the strategic direction of diversifying within the cannabis industry. Mike Haridopolos, former president of the Florida State Senate, and James Gray, former U.S. vice presidential candidate on the Libertarian ticket and mayor of Lexington, Kentucky, have joined REFG’s advisory board. The addition of prominent political figures working toward the legalization of marijuana will only help to expand the company’s footprint and advance its corporate objectives (http://ibn.fm/DtCKe).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Take.Green

• GPS SmartSole® selected by George Mason University for groundbreaking study to link movement patterns of dementia patients with progression of disease
• GTX Corp’s flagship GPS SmartSole® and tracking technology were developed specifically to track people with cognitive disorders at risk of wandering
• More than 60 percent of people with dementia will wander, creating a stressful and potentially dangerous situation; Alzheimer’s is the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S.
• Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia afflict about 5.7 million Americans, with nearly 80 percent of those patients being cared for at home by a family member

GTX Corp (OTC: GTXO), a pioneer in the field of wearable GPS human and asset tracking systems and wandering assistive technology, has partnered with George Mason University’s College of Health and Human Services (“Mason”) in an important study using the company’s flagship GPS SmartSole® and tracking technology platform (http://ibn.fm/WwJev). The patented GPS SmartSole® is a non-visible GPS tracking device designed to monitor the location of people afflicted with cognitive memory disorders, such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism and traumatic brain injury (TBI), who have a tendency to get lost or wander.

The study, funded through a grant from the Alzheimer’s & Related Disease Research Award Fund, aims to track the progression of Alzheimer’s dementia (“AD”) in patients as it relates to their movement patterns, the news release states. Specifically, the study explores the possibility of using machine learning methods and artificial intelligence applied to data from GPS trackers to create models that can predict patterns of movement. GTX Corp will provide its SmartSole® products and replace them as needed over a period of two to three years, in addition to sharing access to its GPS data and scientific expertise in the technology, Patrick Bertagna, GTX Corp CEO, said.

“This is so remarkable and truly innovative thinking,” Bertagna said in the news release outlining the company’s continued support of the university’s research program. “We began supporting Mason in 2016, with their first small and no budget study, and to see this work evolve to this degree is really impressive. Knowing that our technology continues to prove out its efficacy in what could potentially help millions of seniors afflicted with dementia is such a validation to our core mission statement.”

The university published encouraging results of an exploratory study using GTX Corp’s tracking technology in June, which was soon followed by the grant application to expand the research project. Approved in July and funded for one year, the study has the potential to make a huge difference in the lives of Alzheimer patients and their caregivers, researchers stated in the June report (http://ibn.fm/IH7EB).

“The majority of people with AD are in danger of wandering including getting lost. Subsequently, these individuals may get hurt, cause extreme distress for family and caregivers, and require costly search efforts. The presented research aimed at finding patterns of movement that can eventually lead to prediction of wandering,” the report states.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are 5.7 million Americans of all ages currently living with Alzheimer’s, costing the nation $277 billion in 2018. Those numbers are rising quickly, along with the estimated number of Americans providing unpaid care for those with Alzheimer’s or other dementia (http://ibn.fm/zd2Fh). Alzheimer’s disease remains one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. and is a top cause of disability and poor health.

“The future of patient monitoring is in advanced technologies, such as GTX’s SmartSole, aided by Artificial Intelligence and prediction,” added Janusz Wojtusiak, associate professor and Director of Health Informatics at George Mason’s College of Health and Human Services and lead researcher of the study. “By combining these two technologies, we can achieve what has not been possible before. The new study is getting us one step closer to safe care for people with Alzheimer’s and understanding how wandering patterns relate to progression of the disease.”

The research will be made available to GTX Corp, which will consider deploying the prediction algorithms into its backend monitoring platform, adding another layer of technology and overall value to the company’s proprietary GPS tracking platform and monitoring services.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of people living with some form of dementia is expected to triple in the next 30 years from 50 million worldwide to 152 million by 2050. The estimated annual global cost of dementia is $818 billion, or about one percent of the world’s gross domestic product (http://ibn.fm/J1LuE).

“This pilot (research program) could produce the groundbreaking data that may have the potential to save lives and dramatically reduce the rising costs of this disease,” Andrew Carle, Adjunct Professor and Founding Director of the Program in Senior Housing Administration at George Mason, noted in a news release.

Andrew Duncan, GTX Corp director of business development, agrees, adding, “This research combined with AI, could play a major role in finding solutions to complex problems derived from Alzheimer’s, dementia and autism.”

All of this comes on the heels of the company’s major announcement in June that its tracking technology has been selected for use in the UK to monitor dementia patients, and could soon become available in the through the country’s National Health Service (http://ibn.fm/bBTf7).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.GTXCorp.com