West Midlands-based Cannabis pharma company Celadon sees a bright future

By Nicky Godding

6 June 2023

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Celadon Pharmaceuticals, which was readmitted to London's AIM exchange last year, following the reverse takeover of Vertigrow Technology Limited, and which is the first UK cannabis-based medicine group to win the right to sell cannabis to the pharmaceutical industry, is looking positively ahead after revealing a number of highlights in its annual report. These include that it has successfully completed seven harvests from its Phase 1 grow facility, with independent third-party testing of the select test batches confirming high quality, consistent pharmaceutical grade cannabis with high THC profile.

James Short, CEO of Celadon, said: "2022 was a strong year for Celadon following our readmission to AIM and £8.5m equity fundraising, cementing our place as a leader in the field of developing breakthrough cannabis-based medicines. The start of this year has now seen Celadon successfully achieve our Good Manufacturing Practices registration from the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Registration Agency and an update to our Home Office licence to allow commercial supply of our product. We believe that we are the first UK company of our kind to obtain these approvals since regulations changed in 2018 which positions Celadon to supply the UK market with our pharmaceutical-grade product.

"Following the update of our Home Office licence, we have been contacted by a number of potential customers expressing interest in entering into long-term supply agreements, to allow them to source high-quality, locally produced medical cannabis. We are aiming to provide the first product to customers during the course of Q4 2023. The progress we have made this year, and the promising early data from our chronic pain study, give me further conviction of the potential of our cannabis-based medicines to transform patients' lives."

Celadon achieved AIM readmission following the reverse takeover of Vertigrow Technology Limited in March 2022, raising gross proceeds of £8.5 million.

In January this year, it achieved registration of its Midlands facility with UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for the manufacturing of its cannabis Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) in January 2023.

The Home Office successfully updated its licence in March 2023 to allow commercial sale of the Group's high Δ-9 tetrahydrocannabinol ("THC") product.

It completed construction of its Phase II facility in 2022 and the first quarter of this year. The initial footprint is operational with capacity, and further fitting requirements, expected to ramp up in line with demand during 2023.

Its has also made an inaugural product sale, for a minimum of £3 million over three years, to a leading UK Medical Cannabis company, with first shipments anticipated towards the end of this year.

Cannabis-based medical products (CBMPs) were legalised in 2018 by the UK Government under the “Specials” framework. CBMPs were made immediately available for as prescription medicines for several conditions (e.g. epilepsy, spasticity from multiple sclerosis, chronic pain). This means that in the UK, the distribution of CBMPs as a Special do not require marketing authorisation (i.e. the typical three-phase clinical trial).

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By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.