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Medicinal cannabis stocks to list on ASX
An AusCann medicinal cannabis crop.

• Sarah-Jane Tasker
• The Australian
• 1:32PM November 21, 2016

• Sarah-Jane Tasker

Reporter
Sydney

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@SarahJaneTasker



Medicinal cannabis is generating a buzz in Australia’s investment circles with two new “pot stocks” set to hit the local bourse but the market is still undecided if this is the next bubble.
Zelda Therapeutics, a biotech developing medical cannabis therapies, is set to relist on the local market tomorrow.
The company, which is doing a backdoor listing through junior miner Gleneagle Gold, raised $4 million for its listing, with the funds to be used for preclinical and clinical trials. Zelda is developing medical cannabis therapies for a range of issues, including sleep disorders, dermatology conditions and cancer.
Zelda founder and director Stewart Washer said Zelda was one of the few companies working on what he labels as “cutting-edge cures” for insomnia.
“With this listing, we now plan to run clinical trials in insomnia, in Australia and conduct research in Australia,” he said.
Stewart Washer
Mr Washer added that the company was also conducting preclinical trials on breast cancer in Spain.
Zelda has supply arrangements with Australian group AusCann for access to clinical grade medicinal cannabis. AusCann, which is set to list on the Australian market in early December, launched its prospectus today.
AusCann intends to raise between $3m and $5m through the issue of up to 25 million shares at an issue price of 20c per share.
The company, which is also doing a backdoor listing, plans to apply for a licence later this month to grow cannabis in Australia and it recently announced a joint-venture with Chilean group Fundación Daya.
AusCann and Daya, which has a medical cannabis production licence in Chile, will form a 50/50 joint-venture company, DayaCann, to focus on becoming South America’s leading medical cannabis group and a key player in the global supply chain. The first crop, worth $7 million, will be planted on Monday, with first harvest in May 2017.
The company also secured a deal, in May, with the biggest legal cannabis provider in the world, Canada’s Canopy Growth Corporation. Canopy supplies directly to more than 24,000 patients.
AusCann managing director Elaine Darby said the company was focused on forming international collaborations to give it intellectual property and expertise to be able to cultivate and manufacture high quality cannabinoid products in Australia.
“In Australia, there is enormous potential for medicinal cannabis,” she said.
“There are certainly key patient groups that we have in Australia that could really benefit from these medicines, such as treating resistant neuropathic pain — nerve pain — and also the treatment of resistant epilepsy.”


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