Cannabis Value Is In IP

As reported by Cantech Letter, shares of Canadian cannabis companies like Canopy Growth Corp and Tilray have seen tremendous growth in recent weeks, in large part due to increased investment in the space by other industries like alcohol, food and beverage.

According to Tilray CEO, Brendan Kennedy, if cannabis companies want to maintain growth and move beyond being mere domestic crop producers, they would be wise to focus their efforts on developing products and intellectual property aimed at both medicinal and recreational uses.

Kennedy “[thinks] most [cannabis] products will be in form factors more similar to other pharmaceuticals, other CPG products. … People will drink cannabis instead of beer; … They may eat a product in the form of a chocolate bar or consume a pill. And so, that’s where the value is, in the intellectual property of these other form factors and other delivery mechanisms.”

Constellation Brands (“Constellation”) – parent company to the Corona beer brand – is one such company betting big on cannabis and capitalizing on growth opportunities in “production, branding, intellectual property and retailing”. In August, Constellation acquired a $4 billion stake in Canopy Growth Corp in a deal said to be the largest of its kind in the legal pot industry. Constellation also owns the Ballast Point brewing company and Svedka vodka.

Author: Larissa Fulop