This week, Medibis Holdings Ltd. (TSXV: MICE) (OTCQB: MICEF) announced the raising of $1.5 million CAD ($1.4M USD) through both a private placement and a non-brokered private placement. The private placement was issued in the amount of $100,000 CAD ($85,000 USD) and the non-brokered private placement was issued in the amount of $200,000 CAD ($170,000 USD). The proceeds of both of these placements were used to finance the construction of a medicinal cannabis cultivation facility.
Medibis is a new medical cannabis research and cultivation facility that is aiming to be the largest medicinal cannabis facility in Europe. The facility is backed by an ambitious team which includes the co-founder of the UK’s biggest medical cannabis dispensary, the co-founder of the UK’s biggest medical cannabis dispensary, and an expert in medical cannabis cultivation and cultivation who also previously worked for one of the largest cannabis companies in the world.
Medibis Innovations Limited (Medibis), a company focused on the research and cultivation of medicinal cannabis, today announced the launch of its $3 million crowdfunding campaign on the e-commerce website Kickstarter. The campaign, launched on the 1st of November, is one of the largest in the history of the site, and aims to raise $8 million in funding.
Medibis’ collaboration with an Israeli cannabis firm is the first step toward the company’s goal of releasing a cannabis product in Australia and establishing a growing facility in Toowoomba.
Following its attempts to collect money through the crowd financing site Birchal, homegrown medical cannabis firm Medibis is set to offer a variety of cannabis medications on the Australian market. The firm is also planning to do research into cannabinoid-based medications, and it is looking forward to finding novel therapies.
Medibis has also revealed long-term intentions to construct a medical cannabis facility in Toowoomba, Queensland, as it prepares to enter the lucrative multibillion-dollar medicinal cannabis market.
Stockhead spoke with Angus Chapel, the founder and CEO of Medibis, who said that Toowoomba is ideal for cultivating cannabis plants because it is 700 meters above sea level and provides Queensland sunlight without the humidity.
Chapel, who grew up in neighboring Brisbane, informed Stockhead about Toowoomba’s strong agricultural heritage, which includes a significant farming population and backing for major agricultural initiatives.
Chapel spent years working in the mining sector prior to establishing Medibis, but felt that it stifled his entrepreneurial drive.
“I needed something significant from which I could get pleasure. After doing some study on cannabis, I saw that science was discovering and allowing possibilities to enhance people’s quality of life,” Chapel told Stockhead.
Towoomba’s Medibis facility
A state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Towoomba is the second phase of the company’s expansion ambitions. The project is scheduled to be completed in six stages, with Stage 1 costing approximately $25 million to construct. The total cost of the full-scale development is expected to be approximately $180 million, with a production capacity of more than 80 tons per year.
“We want to open the facility by the end of next year, after we’ve established our brand in the market and generated some revenue,” Chapel added.
The facility will be able to provide not just world-class growing, but also a pharmaceutical research center to create cannabis-based medications to treat diseases including seizures, epilepsy, and depression once it is finished.
Chapel recognizes that securing the required financing and developing these plans would take time, therefore he has devised faster methods as a means of getting to market sooner.
“Right now, the first step is to import Israeli goods. There is a lot of convincing scientific evidence coming out of Israel in the area of cannabis science, and we have also identified an Israeli partner who will manufacture the medications for us under our label,” Chapel added.
Medibis has announced a collaboration with BOL Pharma, a famous cannabinoid-based pharmaceutical firm headquartered in Israel.
BOL Pharma’s THC/CBD medication will be accessible to Australian patients thanks to a partnership between the two businesses.
“Our Israeli partner has a well-established GMP facility, which will allow us to build downstream routes and expand our GP networks in Australia.”
The two firms will begin conducting proof of concept and Phase II studies in Australia after BOL Pharma has completed the required procedures to commence research operations in the nation.
In the end, Medibis hopes to offer products including CBD oil, THC oil, and raw cannabis flower to treat a variety of ailments in Australian patients.
“One of the most intriguing is an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) therapy that can also be used for epilepsy, which was found via studies with epileptic patients in Israel,” Chapel said.
According to Chapel, the study found that 30% of autistic children also had epilepsy, and that when treating the epilepsy, researchers observed a significant improvement in ASD symptoms as well.
Medibis will offer a wide range of goods, including therapies for chronic pain, Parkinson’s disease, and cancer-related diseases, to name a few.
The gold standard is Australia.
The worldwide cannabis market’s fast growth has driven the sector into a “greenhouse arms race” to see who can attain the most growing capacity.
In light of this, some experts have suggested that Australia may play a key role as a significant cannabis supplier to the globe, given that the TGA oversees one of the world’s most rigorous pharmaceutical standards.
Chapel agrees, claiming that Australia has developed plant genetics on par with the finest in the world, and that our plants are equivalent to those grown in similar climates.
“In addition, the TGA has some of the highest standards in the world, which, when coupled with our scientific capability as a country, puts Australia in a strong position to compete in terms of quality and scale,” Chapel said.
He’s also keeping an eye on what’s going on in other nations, particularly in terms of regulation.
He thinks Australia will follow the United States’ lead and legalize cannabis state by state.
Medibis is now working with the TGA to register the Israeli medicine under its own brand, with national distribution agreements already in place.
Market potential is enormous.
The usage of medicinal cannabis is gaining traction across the globe as a result of recent legalizations in several nations.
According to recent study, the worldwide medicinal cannabis industry is projected to reach US$104 billion by 2028, increasing at a rate of 25% per year.
Medibis is eyeing the German market as a potential export market once it is fully operational.
Despite the fact that Europe and the United States are expected to dominate the industry in the early years, Chapel thinks Asia will be the next frontier.
“We’ve been watching what’s going on in Thailand, where they used to take a really hard line on it. We’ve seen similar shifts in government policy throughout Asia, including China and Japan, so there are certainly some significant possibilities there, particularly in terms of Australian quality brands and standards,” Chapel said.
Medibis is presently raising $1.6 million on the Birchal platform, and thinks that as the sector undergoes enormous and fast changes, investors will be rewarded.
Chapel believes that now is an exciting moment to invest in cannabis since several nations in North America, Europe, and Israel are actively investing in research and attempting to comprehend the complex science underlying cannabinoid-based medications, with new therapies being found every week.
Andrew Calvert, Medibis’ technical director, agrees, adding that Medibis investors will be part of a larger narrative.
“Many of our prospective investors have friends who have been treated with cannabis-based medication, so this is a chance to be a positive part of our narrative by having that direct personal experience from our investment base,” says the company.
