Las Vegas-based GB Sciences is leaving the cannabis cultivation space to pursue further interests in the biopharmaceutical industry.
The company on Tuesday said in a news release it closed the sale of its only remaining cultivation facility in Las Vegas for $8 million.
Proceeds from the sale include $1.2 million in cash, $3.8 million in immediate debt and liabilities reduction and a $3 million interest-bearing note payable to GB Sciences by the buyer over a three-year term.
The sale was contingent on GB transferring its marijuana production and extraction licenses to AJE Management, per a Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board mandate.
That transfer occurred Dec. 14 and the sale closed Dec. 31, according to the release.
Andrea Small-Howard, president and chief science officer at GB Sciences, confirmed in an email to MJBizDaily that the company remains in the medical cannabis business, but its focus is on pharmaceutical products.
Small-Howard also said via email that GB Sciences would not be using plant-derived cannabinoids but, rather, “homologues” of cannabinoids – biosynthetic cannabinoids, essentially, purchased from Purisys in Athens, Georgia.
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The decision to move away from plant-touching marijuana operations allows GB Sciences to list its stock on a senior exchange and attract institutional investors and strategic partners in the biopharmaceutical drug-development sector, according to the release.
“We can now concentrate all our energies on advancing our plant-inspired, biopharmaceutical research and development programs into human clinical trials,” Small-Howard noted in the release.
