Canopy Growth Acquires Medical Cannabis Research Firms

Canopy Growth (CGC) has acquired Beckley Canopy Therapeutics, a research firm it co-founded in 2018, the Motley Fool reports. The deal will also see Canopy acquire Spectrum Biomedical UK, a joint venture formed in January between Canopy and Beckley that distributes the company’s products.

Canopy indicated Beckley — which was co-founded last year with Beckley Research & Innovations — will be merged with Canopy’s in-house research program. The project had focused its research on cancer pain, opioid sparing, and smoking cessation, and Canopy said that research would continue following the acquisition. 

The deal still needs regulatory approval for the parts of the company Canopy did not already own; those approvals are expected within 90 days. 

It’s the latest acquisition for Canopy this year who announced in April that they had reached a deal to buy Acreage Holdings for $3.4 billion once cannabis is legalized federally in the U.S. — a requirement of Toronto Stock Exchange rules that say publicly listed companies cannot possess any illegal holdings at the risk of being de-listed, and cannabis remains a federally prohibited business in the U.S. The following month it bought Germany’s C3 which produces, distributes, and researches cannabis-based medicines for the European market.

In July, the board fired its founder Bruce Linton after significant losses this year. Co-CEO Mark Zekulin became the sole CEO but it’s expected he will only fill the role temporarily.