Australian medical advisory company Cpharm was mistakenly identified by the Taliban as the company who’d made a deal to spend $430 million setting up a hashish processing facility in Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Qari Saeed Khosty said officials from the Afghan Ministry of Interior’s Counter-Narcotics Department met with a representative of the company over the deal.

“We DO NOT manufacture or supply anything. We provide a medical advice service to the pharmaceutical industry within Australia,” the company said.

“We have no connection with cannabis or the Taliban. We have no idea where the Taliban media release has come from and want to assure everyone that it should not be connected to Cpharm Pty Ltd Australia.”

 

New research could shake up cannabis driving laws

Research from the University of Sydney has shown that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – the intoxicating component of cannabis – in blood and saliva are poor measures of cannabis impairment.

Unlike the much stronger relationship between blood alcohol concentrations and driving impairment.

The findings have implications for the application of drug-driving laws and raises questions about the validity of the widespread random mobile drug testing for THC in saliva in Australia.

Lead author from Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics Dr Danielle McCartney said the results don’t suggest there is no relationship between THC intoxication and driving impairment.

“It is showing us that using THC concentration in blood and saliva are inconsistent markers for such intoxication,” she said.

Lambert Initiative associate director Professor Iain McGregor said the results indicate we need more reliable ways of identifying cannabis-impairment on the roads and the workplace.

“This is a particularly pressing problem for the rapidly increasing number of patients in Australia who are using legal medicinal cannabis yet are prohibited from driving.

“The increase in legal recreational use of cannabis across multiple jurisdictions worldwide is also making the need for reform of cannabis-driving laws more urgent.”
 

Rua eyes top spot in Kiwi cannabis market

Just across the pond in New Zealand, Rua Bioscience plans to buy Zalm Therapeutics, a medicinal cannabis company, for $10 million at $0.41 per share.

And a key shareholder in Zalm is ASX listed Cann Group (ASX:CAN).

Rua said the deal would secure preferential pricing through a long-term supply agreement as a result of Cann’s world-leading scale and GMP capability, as they are in the final stage of commissioning one of Australasia’s largest and most technologically advanced indoor growing facilities, due to commence production in January 2022.

Zalm said the deal will create “New Zealand’s premier medicinal cannabis company.”

 

ASX Winners

Code Company Price % Six Month % Month % Week Market Cap
TSN The Sust Nutri Grp 0.245 -45 7 9 $ 21,848,936.63
CAU Cronos Australia 0.21 83 11 8 $ 26,393,750.00
CAN Cann Group Ltd 0.29 -32 2 4 $ 99,423,533.36
EVE EVE Health Group Ltd 0.004 -20 0 0 $ 15,372,567.56
BOT Botanix Pharma Ltd 0.054 -21 -16 0 $ 52,549,672.00
PAL Palla Pharma Ltd 0.38 -10 13 0 $ 61,527,001.94
AVE Avecho Biotech Ltd 0.015 -12 -17 0 $ 27,541,747.89
MRG Murray River Grp 0.245 40 0 0 $ 10,808,210.04
ROO Roots Sustainable 0.008 -33 -11 0 $ 4,715,010.22
SCU Stemcell United Ltd 0.014 -18 0 0 $ 14,606,489.21
ECS ECS Botanics Holding 0.03 -21 -6 0 $ 35,366,896.48
ZLD Zelira Therapeutics 0.035 -30 -13 0 $ 45,944,339.11
AC8 Auscann Grp Hlgs Ltd 0.0825 -31 -14 -1 $ 36,124,863.02
WOA Wide Open Agricultur 0.745 -16 -3 -2 $ 94,709,749.85
ALA Arovella Therapeutic 0.035 -22 -15 -3 $ 17,313,151.68
MMJ MMJ Group Hlds Ltd 0.066 -22 -6 -3 $ 14,947,009.03
MDC Medlab Clinical Ltd 0.145 -17 -22 -3 $ 49,615,472.30
WFL Wellfully Limited 0.077 48 -27 -4 $ 19,862,800.40
AGH Althea Group 0.235 -32 -16 -4 $ 74,983,445.52
MXC Mgc Pharmaceuticals 0.039 -17 -19 -5 $ 96,912,760.32
IRX Inhalerx Limited 0.09 -7 -10 -5 $ 15,162,026.13
LGP Little Green Pharma 0.625 -9 -8 -5 $ 111,872,833.29
IHL Incannex Healthcare 0.49 72 -6 -6 $ 598,221,361.49
CPH Creso Pharma Ltd 0.09 -47 -33 -6 $ 108,730,054.80
EXL Elixinol Wellness 0.08 -45 -12 -7 $ 25,904,716.43
EOF Ecofibre Limited 0.59 -34 -24 -8 $ 214,623,043.17
EPN Epsilon Healthcare 0.105 -40 -13 -9 $ 20,234,229.65
LV1 Live Verdure Ltd 0.43 87 5 -9 $ 18,082,284.75
NTI Neurotech Intl 0.054 -8 -13 -10 $ 37,649,616.80
RGI Roto-Gro Intl Ltd 0.021 -51 -28 -13 $ 7,194,448.74
BOD BOD Australia 0.22 -42 -17 -14 $ 24,339,501.60
CGB Cann Global Limited 0.0025 -58 -17 -17 $ 12,670,973.57
EMD Emyria Limited 0.39 86 18 -19 $ 63,610,944.04
YPB YPB Group Ltd 0.002 0 -33 -20 $ 11,861,822.86
EN1 Engage:Bdr Limited 0.002 -56 0 -20 $ 7,619,994.64
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Up 9% was plant protein player The Sustainable Nutrition Group (ASX:TSN), still riding high on its deal to develop hemp concentrates and isolates with Australian Plant Proteins last week.

The deal is expected to allow the company to enter the $10.8 billion global plant-based ingredients market with limited capex requirements.

The company will own the intellectual property for this unique hemp based plant protein and have 15-year exclusivity on its sale, with commercialisation in the Australian and New Zealand markets expected to commence in Q4 FY2022.

TSN is arguably best known for being one of the few ASX cannabis stocks to get products to the market – in the form of hemp protein bars.

Cann Group was up 4%, after announcing it plans sell its 8.36% interest in Zalm to Rua and strengthen supply arrangements with New Zealand.

The Master Supply Agreement and the Technical Services Agreement between Cann and Zalm will remain in place and Cann CEO Peter Crock said the company looks forward to “supporting and working with Rua as it looks to accelerate its expansion into the New Zealand market and further develop its opportunities in its targeted export markets.”

“Rua has an impressive business plan and is well resourced with established distribution channels and intends to launch a number of medicinal cannabis products in 2022,” he said.

“Rua plans to invest over NZ$6 million across the next three years in sales and marketing activities as part of its go to market plan, so our supply relationship will make an important contribution to Cann’s capacity utilisation as we approach the completion of the first stage of our new manufacturing facility in Mildura.”

Cann also announced on Monday it had received a $2.186 million R&D tax incentive rebate for the 2021 financial year.

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