- Willow’s plan to provide biosynthetic cannabinoid has potential to disrupt the cannabis-industry supply chain
- Biosynthetically derived cannabinoids offer unique advantages related to reliability, scalability, quality and cost
- Key collaboration allows company to capitalize on enormous market opportunity
Willow Biosciences Inc. (CSE: WLLW) (OTCQB: CANSF), an emerging biotechnology company focused on the biosynthetic production of cannabinoids, believes that the cannabis industry presents an exciting opportunity for the well-positioned company. As the market anticipates the legalization of cannabis-derivative products in Canada, and the CBD legal landscape continues to change rapidly in the United States and around the world, cannabinoids are appearing as a key ingredient in a broad range of products, from health and wellness and pet care options to beverages and edibles. Willow’s ability to provide biosynthetic cannabinoids to this exploding market has the potential to disrupt the traditional cannabis industry supply chain.
Biosynthetically derived cannabinoids offer unique advantages related to reliability, scalability, quality, and cost. As an expert in the field of synthetic biology, Willow is focusing on developing pure, pharmaceutical-grade product that consistently provides these benefits for its customers. Willow’s processes offer many advantages over extraction from plants, including the possibility of improving the performance of some cannabinoids over their naturally derived versions.
As part of the company’s savvy strategy to become a leader in the pure-cannabinoid manufacturing space, Willow entered into a joint development agreement with Noramco, the number one supplier of controlled substances in the United States, earlier this year (http://ibn.fm/HEemD). This collaboration provides a symbiotic way for both companies to capitalize on an enormous market opportunity.
Noramco will benefit from Willow’s expertise in developing active pharmaceutical ingredients in yeast while Willow will benefit from Noramco’s manufacturing and distribution channels. In addition, thanks to Noramco’s extensive experience in dealing with various regulatory bodies, WLLW could save a significant amount of time and resources associated with regulatory submissions. Finally, Willow can leverage Noramco’s supply-chain expertise in selling synthetic CBD. Noramco currently supplies products to over 30 countries and is a supplier of chemically synthesized cannabinoids to pharmaceutical companies.
The market outlook for biosynthetic cannabinoid products is extremely promising. Cowen estimates that by 2025, the United States CBD market could reach $16 billion (http://ibn.fm/DgxEe). Additionally, Ackrell Capital estimates that the pharmaceutical market for cannabinoids will reach $50 billion by 2029 (http://ibn.fm/gv9Vt). With the goal of being one of the first companies providing biosynthetic alternatives in this space, Willow sees a tremendous opportunity to grab a sizeable market share in a fast-growing global market.
This is especially true on the pharma front where the list of trials and indications continues to grow rapidly. Approximately 40 CBD and other cannabinoid-based treatment options are currently in clinical trials for indications such as post-traumatic stress disorder, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, chronic pain, schizophrenia and others (http://ibn.fm/fiLac). Applications for pharmaceutical-grade cannabinoids is expected to continue to expand.
If only a handful of those clinical trials become successful, WLLW expects to see market size for cannabinoids increase substantially, providing Willow will have a significant opportunity to supply biosynthetically derived cannabinoids to various pharmaceutical companies for use in pre-clinical and eventually clinical trials.
Willow ultimately intends to biosynthetically produce a variety of cannabinoids using biosynthesis, but its first target molecule will be CBD. The company has a fully integrated leadership team based out of Canada and the United States to handle all stages of the upstream cannabinoid development cycle. Additionally, by having two labs in Canada, where cannabis is Federally legal, Willow is able to access and work with the cannabis plant to allow its team to make significant discoveries outside of what is known today. This is a key advantage for the company. Willow is fully funded to achieve commercialization of CBD with its partner Noramco.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.WillowBio.com
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to WLLW are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/WLLW
