Akanda Names Dr. Sunny Nayee U.K. Medical Director To Support Partnership With Cellen

International medical cannabis company Akanda Corp. named Dr. Sunny Nayee as its new UK medical director. The appointment of Nayee, a pain treatment expert with direct experience in cannabis therapies, builds upon the company’s partnership with Cellen Life Sciences. At Akanda, Nayee will be responsible for monitoring and improving the overall level of care provided to medical patients in the UK, as well as helping assess expansion into other international markets.

Nayee joins Akanda from the Lyphe Group, a cannabis clinical telehealth and dispensing ecosystem, where he served as medical director. Nayee has been recommending cannabis to his patients since 2019 and currently treats over 1,000 people. Under his leadership at Lyphe, The Medical Cannabis Clinics became the first-ever cannabis clinic to receive a “good” rating from the Care Quality Commission.

“It is an honor to welcome Dr. Nayee to the Akanda team as we work to build the first seed-to-patient model, serving medical cannabis patients in the UK and Europe,” said Tej Virk, Akanda’s CEO. “Dr. Nayee is a renowned pain treatment expert with direct experience in cannabis therapies. This makes him the ideal face of Akanda for patients. I’m looking forward to having Dr. Nayee by our side as we build a patient-oriented supply chain in the UK and eventually other international markets.”

Nayee said he is equally enthused to be joining Akanda and Cellen. “My focus has always been on accurately diagnosing patients then giving them access to the best treatment options available, I’m excited to join up with Akanda and Cellen to play a fundamental role in helping to democratize access to medical cannabis for patients in need.”

Akanda recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Cellen Life Sciences, a health tech company that provides treatment to chronic pain patients through its digital pain clinic, Leva Clinic. Nayee will be working closely with Cellen to enable Akanda to better address unmet healthcare needs of patients globally, starting with the UK.

Photo: Courtesy of Business Wire