Vir Pharma Signs Supply Agreement with Canadian Cannabis Firm

A Canadian cannabis producer is stepping into the Australian cannabis landscape through a supply agreement for medical cannabis oil.

New South Wales-based Vir Pharma Holdings has signed on with Sundial Growers (NASDAQ:SNDL) for a three year agreement to receive cannabis oil from the Canadian marijuana company for its oral formulation for chronic pain.

The drug is to be distributed for commercial and research use across Australia and offers an alternative to opioid-based pain treatments, Sundial said.

In an emailed statement to the Investing News Network (INN), Brian Harriman, chief operating officer at Sundial, said the two firms are well aligned for a partnership because of their mutual focus on the therapeutic effects of marijuana.

“Vir Pharma is a company with similar strategic interest in medical cannabis, and we feel our collective capabilities will bring synergistic benefits to both companies,” Harriman told INN.

Since the news was announced last Thursday (January 9), Sundial’s share price has been up just over 5 percent.

Sundial said it expects to send the first shipments of its cannabis oil to Vir before the end of April 2020.

Though Sundial is currently focused on its expansion into Australia, the executive added that the company plans to use information from its agreement with Vir Pharma for future partnerships with other international firms moving forward.

“This is a significant announcement for Sundial and our Heal (medical) business as it will lead to our first global exports and entry into Australian markets,” said Harriman in a press release.

Vir Pharma, a licensed medical cannabis importer and manufacturer in Australia, is currently developing Virabis, a pain treatment drug that’s up for approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the country’s regulator of medicinal products.

Vir plans on leveraging Sundial’s cultivation expertise with its own experience in medical cannabis product production to further develop medical marijuana-based treatments.

Joel Hardy, CEO at Vir Pharma, said that along with the creation of the cannabis drug, the agreement will allow the firm to start a clinical development program.

Sundial joins the likes of MediPharm Labs (TSX:LABS,OTCQX:MEDIF), another Canadian marijuana company, in branching out into the Australian cannabis market recently.

In June last year, MediPharm announced its first shipments of medical cannabis concentrate to Western Australian cannabis pharmaceutical company AusCann Group Holdings (ASX:AC8).

Aleafia Health (TSX:ALEF,OTCQX:ALEAF) has also been supplying the Australian cannabis space with its branded medical cannabis oils through an agreement with its partner CannaPacific.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Danielle Edwards, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Editorial Disclosure: MediPharm Labs is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content