LAVAL, QC, Jan. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Neptune Wellness
Solutions Inc. ("Neptune" or the "Company")
(NASDAQ: NEPT) (TSX: NEPT) is
pleased to announce today that it has received its license to
process cannabis from Health Canada.
"In 2017, we embarked upon a new strategic vision to position
the Company in growth markets such as the legal cannabis market and
to become a global leader in cannabis extraction, purification and
formulation of value-added differentiated products. Since then, we
have executed a carefully-planned roadmap to ready our significant
manufacturing capacity for production, secure multi-year commercial
contracts with great companies like Canopy Growth, and expand our
strategic relationships, recently beginning a collaboration
agreement with Lonza, a global market leader for the production of
unique value-added capsules. We realized all this while moving
along the various steps of the licensing process. Today, with our
Health Canada processing license in hand, we officially enter the
sizable cannabis market and are fully ready to commence
commercializing our extraction capabilities. This tremendous
achievement reflects the professionalism and experience of our
team, led by Michel Timperio, who is
fully committed and excited to begin actual delivery on the promise
of our vision. Furthermore, we are very proud to be one of the few
Quebec-based companies that have
received a license from Health Canada, and look forward to
contributing to this emerging industry in our home province," said
Jim Hamilton, President & CEO of
Neptune.
The Health Canada license enables Neptune to handle dried
cannabis, to manufacture and purify cannabis extracts and cannabis
oil, and to sell its services to other license holders. With
production activities anticipated to commence shortly at Neptune's
50,000 square foot good manufacturing practice (GMP)-certified
facility in Sherbrooke, Quebec,
the Company expects be able to generate revenues from existing
supply agreements and conclude additional agreements shortly.
Neptune remains on track to complete its Phase II capacity
investment by March 2019, which will
increase its facility's input capacity to 200,000 kg of dried
cannabis from a current capacity of 30,000 kg. This will position
Neptune among Canada's largest
cannabis processors, with additional significant capacity expansion
potential in the Sherbrooke
facility of up to 6,000 metric tons to meet global demand for
medical cannabis products. The collaboration with Lonza for the
production of unique value-added capsules, combined with
significant manufacturing capabilities, will allow Neptune to
expand its strategy from a service provider to other licence
holders to a provider of differentiated cannabis products to
customers in Canada. The Company
is now in the process of applying for additional authorization for
sale of cannabis products from Health Canada to complement the
processing license, allowing for further distribution of finished
form cannabis products directly to consumers and patients.
"This is a thrilling moment for Neptune as our ambition to
redeploy our core competencies to exciting consumer product
categories by creating and delivering differentiated formulations
for the burgeoning cannabis market becomes a reality. Neptune's
long-standing scientific expertise in the formulation of natural
health products supports our ability to deliver exceptional quality
formulations for our business customers. The processing license
granted by the agency puts us on a new growth trajectory,
positioning Neptune as a provider of extracted cannabis products in
this large, growing global market segment," concluded Mr.
Hamilton.
About Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc.
Neptune Wellness Solutions specializes in the extraction,
purification and formulation of health and wellness products.
Bringing decades of experience in the natural products sector to
the legal cannabis industry, Neptune is licensed by Health Canada
to process cannabis for the production of cannabis extracts and
oils at its 50,000 square foot facility located in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Leveraging its scientific
and technological expertise, Neptune acts as a service provider to
license holders as part of a multi-phase growth strategy focused on
the development of value-added and differentiated products for the
Canadian and global cannabis markets. Neptune's activities also
include the formulation, development and commercialization of
turnkey nutrition solutions and patented ingredients such as
MaxSimil®, and of a variety of marine and seed oils. Its head
office is located in Laval,
Quebec.
Forward Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not statements of
historical or current fact constitute "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the U.S. securities laws and Canadian
securities laws. Such forward-looking statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties, and other unknown factors that could
cause the actual results of Neptune to be materially different from
historical results or from any future results expressed or implied
by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements which
explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged
to consider statements labeled with the terms "believes," "belief,"
"expects," "intends," "anticipates," "will," "should," or "plans"
to be uncertain and forward-looking. Readers are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which
speak only as of the date of this press release. Forward-looking
information in this press release includes, but is not limited to,
information or statements about our ability to successfully
develop, produce, supply, promote or generate any revenue from the
sale of any cannabis-based products in the legal cannabis
market.
The forward-looking statements contained in this press
release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this
cautionary statement and the "Cautionary Note Regarding
Forward-Looking Information" section contained in Neptune's latest
Annual Information Form (the "AIF"), which also forms part of
Neptune's latest annual report on Form 40-F, and which is available
on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, on EDGAR at
www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml and on the investor section of
Neptune's website at www.neptunecorp.com. All
forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the
date of this press release. Neptune does not undertake to update
any such forward-looking statements whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject
generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from
time to time in Neptune public securities filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian securities
commissions. Additional information about these assumptions and
risks and uncertainties is contained in the AIF under "Risk
Factors".
Neither NASDAQ nor the Toronto Stock Exchange accepts
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this
release.
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SOURCE Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc.