FV Pharma, a wholly-owned subsidiary of FSD Pharma Inc., is on a mission to build the world’s largest indoor hydroponic cultivation and processing facility, based on total square footage.
After closing the purchase of the former Kraft food manufacturing plant in Cobourg, Ontario, the company’s facility boasts 620,000 square feet of indoor grow space on a 70-acre parcel of land with 40 acres suitable for outdoor cultivation, Chief Corporate Officer Michael Ash told Cannabis Business Times. FV Pharma also owns 25 percent of Cannara Biotech Inc. just outside of Montreal, he added. “We’re covering the two biggest markets in Canada,” he said, “and in total, we’ll probably have about 2 million square feet of grow space between hydroponic and … outdoor space.”
The Canadian licensed producer is now trading publicly on the Canadian Securities Exchange, and has entered a strategic partnership with Cannabis Wheaton Income Corp. through a joint-venture agreement. Wheaton will finance the build-out of the Ontario cultivation facility and receive 49.9 percent of all production from the facility, Ash said.
FV Pharma has also formed a strategic alliance with SciCann Therapeutics Inc. that grants FV Pharma an exclusive license in Canada for the production and distribution of a line of SciCann’s cannabinoid products and access to the cannabinoid scientific research platform that SciCann developed in Israel.
“We’re looking to focus on the cannabinoid market in terms of research and development, which ties into the SciCann deal,” Ash said. “SciCann is an Israeli company and they’re very much immersed in cannabinoid research and are doing research on everything from irritable bowel syndrome to sleep and anxiety disorders. … We will be the first in North America, we hope, to have research-backed clinical data on cannabinoids, specific for the treatment of certain ailments.”
Although the adult-use market is set to open this summer in Canada, FV Pharma will continue to focus on the medical side of the industry, Ash said. “The recreational market, I think, will be a very competitive one, and our objective is to grow some very high-powered medical marijuana.”
FV Pharma will explore different delivery systems, Ash added, including softgels, capsules, tablets, creams and ointments. “I think we plan on being diverse as can be.”
Top photo courtesy of FV Pharma
