Has Big Pharma’s ‘inevitable entrance’ into the cannabis space arrived?
Pfizer, GW Pharma, Merck & Co, and Sanofi-Aventis are among the leading cannabis patent holders in Canada, says report
Monday, September 3, 2018
As Canada prepares to legalise the recreational use of marijuana, the medicinal potential of cannabis has attracted increased attention in the pharmaceutical space. According to a joint research project between US analytics firm New Frontier Data, and UK-based cannabis biotech, Grow Biotech, seven of Canada top 10 cannabis patent holders are major pharmaceutical companies. "Big Pharma inevitable entrance into the cannabis space has arrived," said New Frontier Data CEO Giadha Aguirre de Carcer, as the company listed Pfizer, Merck & Co. (known as MSD outside North America), and Sanofi-Aventis among the leading patent holders. Firms have been "racing to secure protectable intellectual property" before Canada becomes the first G-7 country to fully legalise cannabis.
