(A version of this story first appeared at Marijuana Business Daily.) GW Pharmaceuticals’ plant-derived CBD drug Epidyolex received approval from Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to be used in treating seizures related to Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome for patients 2 and older. The approval is the third major... Read more
Great Britain has rejected the European Commission’s preliminary stance that hemp flower-derived CBD should be regulated as a narcotic, a key food safety regulator in the United Kingdom says. Paul Tossel, who leads the Novel Foods authorities at London’s Food Standards Agency, said Tuesday that although British authorities continue... Read more
A subsidiary of Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage company, has started producing and selling CBD softgels in Europe. Nestlé Health Science partnered with Geocann, a cannabis-product manufacturer headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado, to launch broad-spectrum CBD softgel formulations with a special droplet delivery system known as VESIsorb.... Read more
Thoughtful Brands, cannabis and psychedelics company in Vancouver, British Columbia, has acquired a Kentucky CBD maker in a stock-and cash deal worth CA$12 million ($9 million). Thoughtful Brands Inc. announced the execution of a deal to buy American Extraction CBD Corp., a privately held hemp grower and processor in... Read more
Brazil has fast-tracked a draft law that would legalize the cultivation of medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp, and the stakes are high. South America’s largest economy leads the world in several commodities markets, and some politicians say its farmers are keen to expand into hemp. Several other Latin American... Read more
A German CBD extractor has secured funding of an undisclosed amount from an independent investor in Hamburg who valued the company at €5 million ($5.9 million). Signature Products GmbH did not disclose the size of the investment but said in a statement that the investor’s appraisal makes it the... Read more
CBD has “significant potential for growth” in Canada if the government were to allow the cannabinoid in natural health products, a think-tank predicts. A report released this week by the Canadian Health Food Association estimated the CBD market in Canada at CAD $1.9 billion ($1.44 million), with immense potential... Read more
Geneticists worldwide are racing to breed a cannabis seed not yet in existence: One that thrives in climates with only 12 hours of daylight all year but remains low in THC. Long the province of illicit criminals and smugglers, cannabis genetics now draw top botanists as a growing number... Read more
A company in Paraguay says it has shipped organic hempseed products to the United States, claiming to be the first Paraguayan and Latin American company to export foods derived from hemp to North America. Healthy Grains S.A., a hemp production and consulting firm based in Luque, outside of the... Read more
Regulators at Australia’s Ministry of Health are one step closer to allowing over-the-counter sales of cannabidiol products. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said Wednesday it reached an interim decision to amend the country’s Poisons Standard and down-schedule CBD to a Schedule 3 product in oral, oral mucosal and sublingual... Read more
