At a time when medicinal cannabis companies are readying for a boon in Australia brought upon by regulatory easing, hemp products company Ecofibre (ASX: EOF) is set to make a big splash in the United States having secured a distribution deal that will see its cannabidiol products distributed by more than 5,000 pharmacies.
The exclusive distribution agreement with US-based MEDISCA will create an alliance between the two companies for global distribution, commencing in the United States and Canada initially from February, and then globally.
Products will be marketed under Ecofibre’s Ananda Health division which will be the provider of all finished products including ingestibles, topicals, women’s health and diabetic health products.
“We could not be more proud to partner with the global leader in the pharmaceutical compounding industry.” said Ananda Health CEO, David Neu.
“This partnership is one of the most important milestones in the professionalization of the CBD industry. This is the first time a multinational distributor will be carrying ingestible hemp-derived CBD products,
“MEDISCA has over 30 years of experience in the industry and both of our organizations have core values that are deeply aligned around education, quality and customer care.”
The major distribution extends on Ecofibre’s food division Ananda Food which produces hemp-based foods, seeds and oils which are sold online and distributed in Australia by Coles.
“CBD is an exciting new category that still requires significant research and education to ensure it can help as many patients as possible. In conjunction with Ananda Health, we are very excited to be able to give our pharmacists access to the research, tools and training to improve patient outcomes,” said MEDICSA SVP of Global Strategy and Innovation, Panagiota Danopoulos.
Prior to this distribution deal in the United States, Ecofibre had a presence through the national chain CVS for general healthcare products, but saw major disruptions through COVID-19 which adversely affected sales.
For the quarter ending 30 September 2020, Ecofibre reported a 5% decline in revenue from the previous quarter to $7.1m, which was 51% lower than the previous corresponding quarter.
Alfred Chan is an Analyst at Emerald Financial, specialising in ASX-listed small cap companies.
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