Marijuana producer CannTrust Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CTST)(TSX: TRST) has added the new position of Chief Medical Officer to its C-suite, on Thursday naming Dr. Len Walt as the inaugural holder of the position.\u00a0 In his new role, Dr. Walt is being tasked to lead the Ontario-based company\u2019s Global Medical Division.
\nFounded by pharmacists, CannTrust currently produces both medical and recreational cannabis.
\nBefore joining CannTrust, Dr. Walt held senior leadership positions at biotech and pharma companies in North America and internationally.\u00a0 Amongst other things, he was Medical Director at Biogen Canada, a unit of neuroscience giant Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB).\u00a0 Most recently, he served as VP and Head of Medical Affairs at Sobi, a rare disease specialist headquartered in Sweden.
\nDr. Walt has strong relationships with clinical investigators and deep knowledge of the clinical pathway, which should prove invaluable to CannTrust expanding its global medical businesses and building its research footprint in the cannabis industry.
\nCannabis, in particular its constituent called cannabidiol (CBD), has been widely trumpeted for its therapeutic potential.\u00a0 While proponents have historically barked that any evidence of medical benefits are anecdotal at best, those naysayers were dealt a blow last summer with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approving Epidiolex, a drug of GW Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:GWPH) indicated for treating two rare forms of childhood epilepsy in children under age 2.
\nMarijuana, in either medicinal or recreational forms, is now legal across Canada, in 32 U.S. states and many countries throughout the world, creating not only a burgeoning market, but opening gateways for clinical studies to dial-in on pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and safety profile of the plant and its cannabinoids.
\n“What inspired me to take on this role is a strong belief in the significant clinical benefits cannabis can offer patients suffering from serious conditions,” said Dr. Walt in a statement today.\u00a0\u00a0 He added that he intends to build a world-class team at CannTrust to conduct scientific research to better understand the opportunity with cannabis to address unmet medical needs.
\nNYSE-listed shares of closed down 2.1% on Thursday at $6.08.\u00a0 In Toronto, shares of TRST closed off by 2.0% at C$8.17.
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Marijuana producer CannTrust Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CTST)(TSX: TRST) has added the new position of Chief Medical Officer to its C-suite, on Thursday naming Dr. Len […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[2236,12418],"tags":[13545,13548,4909,13546,13547],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-41465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-cannabis","tag-cannatrust","tag-gwph","tag-nasdaqgwph","tag-nysectst","tag-tsxtrst","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n