Cannabis medicine developer partners with Danish pharmaceutical firm
Cannabis-based medicines specialist Celadon Pharmaceuticals has announced a partnership with Valeos Pharma, a Danish pharmaceutical company and licensed producer of medicinal cannabis.
Celadon and Valeos have signed a framework agreement enabling Valeos to make cannabis using Celadon’s genetics, accelerating the supply of EU-GMP pharmaceutical-grade cannabis to European customers.
Under the supply agreement, Valeos will produce cannabis using Celadon’s genetics, while the Know-How Licence Agreement allows Celadon to share its expertise to improve cultivation yield and quality at Valeos’ Danish facility.
Valeos, founded in 2018, already operates a licensed growing facility producing up to 1.5 tonnes of EU-GMP cannabis annually.
The agreement aims to boost Valeos’ yield up to 100%, potentially increasing annual capacity to around 3 tonnes, valued at approximately £30m.
Celadon will purchase cannabis from Valeos, receive a 50% share of the increased profits from Valeos’ facility and have the option to settle this share in cash or equity.
Celadon also plans to establish a Danish subsidiary to streamline its EU supply chain and service growing European demand more efficiently.
James Short, chief executive officer of Celadon Pharmaceuticals, said: “We are delighted to have formed a strategic collaboration with Valeos. We have been impressed by what its team has achieved and by its rigorous approach to pharmaceutical product standards. Having access to an EU-based supply brings significant supply chain advantages to Celadon, and the immediacy of the additional capacity, which amounts to up to an additional three tonnes of annual product.
“The Agreement increases the current capacity of Celadon by up to 20 times by utilising the services of Valeos as our outsourced manufacturing partner. By outsourcing growing, but utilising the IP of Celadon, the Company believes it will be able to bring forward its path to profitability. The Company intends to continue with the fit out of its Phase 2, which would also have the potential to generate a further 3 tonnes of annual cultivation capacity, which could be worth up to £30m.
“Valeos’ interest in Celadon’s cultivation know-how and practices is testament to our position as a premium quality cultivator. Meanwhile, supplying our existing European customer and prospective European customers from Valeos’ Danish facility will be logistically simpler than doing so from the UK, and will allow us to expedite the servicing of our current and prospective European customers.”
