SASKATOON, Saskatchewan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CanniMed Therapeutics Inc. (TSX: CMED) (“CanniMed”) has initiated production of CanniMed® Capsules, following the receipt of the Production License granted by Health Canada. Subject to Health Canada’s issuance of the required license to sell, CanniMed anticipates the Capsules will be available for patient order by end of calendar 2017.

CanniMed® Capsules are a pivotal innovation in medical cannabis therapy as they deliver medicine in a dosage form widely utilized in the pharmaceutical industry, provide precise dosing in each capsule, enhance patient convenience and will be formulated to produce long-lasting effect. CanniMed® Capsules are vegan to address patient’s specific dietary needs.

A recent survey of CanniMed® patients indicated 96 per cent of the Company’s current Oil patients are interested in trying one of the Capsule products when they become available.

“ By encapsulating our top selling medical cannabis oil product, patients will quickly benefit from the convenience of the CanniMed® Capsules,” said Brent Zettl, President and CEO of CanniMed. “ We anticipate significant patient demand together with increased acceptance and prescription by physicians due to the Capsule treatment format which more closely aligns with those of traditional pharmaceutical products. The precise dosing of the Capsule medicinal delivery method addresses a major concern held by many physicians regarding precise dosing of medicinal cannabis.”

The CanniMed® Capsules production facility is fully operational with rated capacity to manufacture 11,000 capsules per hour. This high capacity will enable CanniMed to ensure ample product availability immediately upon the product launch.

The first Capsule product available will be the CanniMed® Capsule 3:3, which is the encapsulated form of the Company’s top selling CanniMed® Oil 10:10. This will be followed shortly thereafter, by a high-CBD capsule. CanniMed® Capsules will initially be available in 60 or 120 capsule packages.

About CanniMed Therapeutics Inc.

CanniMed is a Canadian-based, international plant biopharmaceutical company and a leader in the Canadian medical cannabis industry, with 16 years of pharmaceutical cannabis cultivation experience, state-of-the-art, GMP-compliant production process and world class research and development platforms with a wide range of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis products. In addition, the Company has an active plant biotechnology research and product development program focused on the production of plant-based materials for pharmaceutical, agricultural and environmental applications.

The Company, through its subsidiaries, was the first producer to be licensed under the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations, the predecessor to the current Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations. It was the sole supplier to Health Canada under the former medical marijuana system for 13 years, and has been producing safe and consistent medical marijuana for thousands of Canadian patients, with no incident of product diversion or recalls.

For more information, please visit our websites: www.cannimed.ca (patients) and www.cannimedtherapeutics.com (investors).

Notice Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, including statements with respect to the anticipated issuance of the licence to sell, anticipated date for availability of Capsules and anticipated patient demand, are “forward-looking statements”. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “estimates”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of CanniMed Therapeutics Inc. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including the risk that the license to sell will not be issued within the timeframe anticipated thereby delaying availability of Capsules for patient order, the risk that Capsules will not be available for order by end of calendar 2017, the risk that patient demand will not reach significant levels and the risk that production capacity will not reach rated capacity, and the risks described in CanniMed Therapeutics Inc.’s documents filed with applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities which may be viewed at www.sedar.com . The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. CanniMed Therapeutics Inc. does not undertake to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise, unless required by applicable securities legislation.