Transcription of Finance News Network Interview with CresoPharmaCEO, Dr Miri HalperinWernli and Chairman and Co-Founder Boaz Wachtel.Carolyn Herbert: Hello I’m Carolyn Herbert from the Finance News Network. Joining me from medicinal cannabis provider, Creso Pharma is CEO, Dr Miri HalperinWernli, and Chairman and Co-founder, Boaz Wachtel. Miri, Boaz welcome to FNN.
Boaz Wachtel: Thank you
Dr Miri HalperinWernli: Thank you for having us.
Carolyn Herbert: First to you Boaz, can you start by giving us an introduction to Creso Pharma?
Boaz Wachtel: Creso is unique in the medical cannabis space here in Australia. It’s a third listed company. We’re bringing the pharmaceutical world together with the medical cannabis world – to produce very accessible products to the patients, through the use of nutraceuticals - OTC/over the counter products.
Carolyn Herbert: You plan to list the company in September or October – how much do you plan to raise and where will the funds go?
Boaz Wachtel: We’re raising $AU5 million right now with a market value of $11.5 million. The funds will go towards development of our products, with the proprietary delivery technologies that we have, to deliver the cannabinoids into the patients. And we have a very interesting deal flow coming Creso’s way. We also have an existing company that we’ve acquired that is already generating revenues, and we’ll see multi-fold increase in that. So we’ll have early revenues coming up with Creso to support the development of the productsof the company.
Carolyn Herbert: So what value will that put on the company and what will your cash position be, post-IPO?
Boaz Wachtel: We will have $5 million in the bank. That would last for our development activitiesfor the next two years. We have licensed three delivery technologies that Miri will expand on. And we plan to have products in the market alreadyat the end of2017. We’ve acquired an existing hemp growing operation that is generating revenues. So the early revenues will support the development activities, and we don’t see any problem with the cash position that we have right now.
Carolyn Herbert: Now to you Miri, first to your cannabis therapeutic products. What are their benefits, how are they used and what’s the size of the market?
Dr Miri HalperinWernli: The cannabis itself is a plant rich with therapeutic compounds. We would have full plant extracts from the cannabis plant, which we will use in innovativedelivery technologies. We will put the extract in innovativetechnologies, which will give the patient a choice to use the cannabis in a different way, other than smoking or vaping. These are proprietary delivery technologies (which go under the tongue or in the mouth) which makes the absorption of these molecules into the body much better than if you take it orally or if you smoke it.
The products will be used for a number oftherapeutic areas. It can be for cancer, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, stress and we will have different therapeutic benefits on the immunology system and the metabolicsystem. The products will be proprietary and delivered in standardised dose and formulation – which will give the patient much better choice for getting this therapeutics into the body, than what they have now.
The products are going to be developed - the first product will come into the market at the end of 2017. Developmentwill take us 12 months. We will develop initial products for humans and for animal health. The animals, or pets, have chronic diseases (the same way people do), and they are poorly treated by current medication. The current medications that people use with their pets are human medications, which are inappropriate. So we will treat with nutraceuticals, both for the human market and for the animal market.
Carolyn Herbert: Boaz, turning to hemp now. Let’s talk about the acquisition of Slovakian Hemp Industries. How does this fit with your company’s strategy?
Boaz Wachtel: We extract the CBD, which is the nonpsychoactive compound that we’re going to use in our nutraceuticals, from hemp. We acquired a hemp-growing operation in Slovakia. We believe in vertical integration strategies. We will supply our own products with our own hemp extraction. We’ve scouted a number of companies in Europe and we bought this company for relatively a good bargain. It’s already generating revenues and has existing distribution agreements in place. And post-IPO, we see a significant growth in revenues coming from this company.
Carolyn Herbert: Last question to you both. What’s your key goal for the next 12 months and long-term ambition for the company?
Dr Miri HalperinWernli: For the next 12 months, we will develop our products with existing delivery technologies, which we will use with cannabis. And we’ll develop the first human product and the first animal product by the end of 2017. But at the same time, we will enhance the commercialisationof our existing products(already from the hemp industry - existing revenues) – to enhance them further with expandedcommercialisation.
Boaz Wachtel: In addition to what Miri said, we’re developing interaction with Australian entrepreneurs, to join us in the business in Creso. And there’s a deal flow pending, post-IPO, that we think will be very significant to support the possible M&A, and support the price of the stock.
Carolyn Herbert: Dr Miri HalperinWernli and Boaz Wachtel, thank you for the introduction to Creso Pharma.
Dr Miri HalperinWernli: Thank you very much.
Boaz Wachtel: Thank you.
ENDS
