VerdeMed Expands In Latin America With CBD Treatment, New Exec Team

Canadian cannabis startup VerdeMed has been expanding across Latin America.

Over the last few months, the company started selling CBD products to select patients in Brazil, won four public bids to supply local governments with cannabis-derived products, and closed a deal to supply its products to Chile as well.

In its most recent move, VerdeMed developed and launched its first in-house medical cannabis product. Dubbed Sativyl, this product is a generic alternative to GW Pharmaceutical GWPH’s Sativex. Containing both THC and CBD, it is used to treat spasticity, or muscular hypertonia, associated to multiple sclerosis.

“It was because of this product that it all started. We have been developing the formulation in Canada for two years, since the company’s inception,” Jairo Koda, director of operations at VerdeMed, told Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.

The company assures Sativyl will cost between 20% and 30% less than Sativex.

Applications for the approval of Sativyl has been filed in Peru and Brazil.

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CEO Jose Bacellar told Benzinga that VerdeMed is far from done in Latin America. The company plans to register a line of derma-cosmetic products in Colombia; scale-up its Chilean operations with “bulk” shipments; develop an entry strategy for the Mexican market – after new regulatory framework comes into effect; and file another dossier in Brazil for a formulation that’s equivalent to GW Pharmaceuticals’ Epidiolex.

The company has four additional formulations under development in Canada. Bacellar expects them to hit the market in 2021.

In order to implement the business strategy, VerdeMed has brought on senior cannabis executives with prior experience at Canopy Growth Corp CGC and Khiron Life Sciences Corp. KHRNF. Luis Chavez M.D. will be joining the company to manage the Mexican market; Oscar Gutierrez will focus on Colombia; and Patrício Aguirre will oversee the market in Chile.

“One cannot aspire to capturing the massive business opportunities emerging from the largest economies in LatAm without solid boots-on-the-ground, experienced leadership teams,” Fabio Lampugnani, Verdemed’s LatAm managing director concluded. “I believe we are building a talented executive leadership at par with VerdeMed’s growth ambitions and plans.”

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with THE cannabis movers and shakers from across the globe, including VerdeMed, during Benzinga’s third Virtual Cannabis Capital Conference on October 15.

Lead image by Ilona Szentivanyi. Copyright: Benzinga.