FSD Pharma begins trading on the NASDAQ Jan. 9 in a move that CEO Dr. Raza Bokhari calls a strategic advantage for the Toronto-based biotech pharmaceutical R&D company.
The stock will trade under the symbol “HUGE,” and the listing places FSD Pharma in a group of 12 Canadian cannabis companies that have commenced trading on the NYSE or NASDAQ.
This milestone also makes FSD Pharma the first company in the history of the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) to be dual listed on a major U.S. exchange.
“To list on the immediate exchange is important,” Bokhari told Cannabis Business Times. “That is how you become the company that has more ability. The United States exchanges are the most active and where the most amount of capital changes hands. So, you want to be in the big ocean.”
The company’s shares will continue to be listed on the CSE under the symbol “HUGE.”
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For a non-U.S. company to list on a major U.S. exchange like the NASDAQ, certain criteria must be met. Primarily, the company must ensure that they have no direct or indirect business related to the cannabis plant in the U.S., due to federal prohibition.
The company should also have an operational history of at least two years, Bokhari added, and should demonstrate overall financial health.
FSD Pharma worked with securities lawyers based at a law firm in New York to help guide them through the process.
The company’s subsidiary, FV Pharma, is a licensed producer in Canada, and operates 25,000 square feet of cultivation space at the former Kraft facility in Cobourg, Ontario.
“We acquired it and rehabilitated it, but we also now have transformed ourselves as a specialty biotech pharmaceutical company that is focused on research and development, and over time, we plan to build a pipeline of synthetic compounds, including possibly synthetic cannabinoid compounds that target the endocannabinoid system,” Bokhari said.
The company has maintained its focus on Canada’s medical cannabis market and continues to grow exclusively medicinal-grade cannabis, despite adult-use legalization, he added.
All public companies in capital markets must always be focused on raising capital, Bokhari said, and the listing will help FSD Pharma do so in a more meaningful way to help achieve its business goals. Not only are U.S. markets more active than those in Canada, but U.S.-listed companies with stocks priced at more than $5.00 can be incorporated into 401k plans, he added.
In order to further support its R&D goals, FSD Pharma is also considering raising capital through a sale-and-leaseback opportunity for its Cobourg facility.
And being a part of only 12 Canadian cannabis companies to trade on a major U.S. exchange will differentiate the company from the crowd, Bokhari said: “We also, in some ways, become [one of the] the leading companies, which also is a great benefit to us."
