Creso develops hemp product for horses

From soup to oils, supplements and powders, hemp is a seriously versatile product and consumers are hungry for its beneficial properties.

But for Australian cannabis companies the plant presents a wealth of opportunity to generate cash considering it is less regulated than its medicinal CBD counterpart.

Creso Pharma (ASX: CPH) hopes to capitalise on the plant's popularity with a new hemp product for horses.

Dubbed 'anibidiol EQUI', Creso's new micromilled hemp plant product is targeted at equines and other large animals.

Anibidiol EQUI is based on natural hemp plant components and aims primarially to reduce stress and pain and support fast mobility in horses.

Creso says the product, which contains natural hemp compounds, represents an additional pathway to market for the group's hemp-based feed products without the need for regulatory approval.

anibidiol EQUI will be commercialised in the Latin American, Asia Pacific and selected European markets, and will be launched in the latter half of 2020.

"Creso Pharma is excited to add another innovative product to our growing portfolio," says Creso co-founder and CEO Dr Miri Halperin Wernli.

"anibidiol EQUI was developed to address the equines and large animal's needs for a natural plant based complementary feed product to support the management of stress and pain and to enhance well-being. We are pleased to have this product ready for launch later this year."

The launch of the horse hemp product follows an attempted takeover of Creso by PharmaCielo in November 2019.

The acquisition was cancelled after Creso's board received advice from accounting firm BDO that the deal was "neither fair not reasonable".

Creso was then required to repay the outstanding amounts of loans advanced by PharmaCielo valued at around $4.3 million.

When the deal was announced in June 2019 it was estimated to be worth around $112 million and sent shares in Creso rising around 30 per cent in one day.

However, the values of both companies, and hence any deal, fell significantly in the period between June and November.

In the supplementary report BDO estimated the deal would now have been worth between $58.7 million and $73.5 million.

Shares in Creso are up 1.33 per cent to $0.15 per share at 10.19am AEDT.

Bod receives import licence

In other medicinal cannabis news Bod Australia (ASX: BDA) has received an import licence for two new medicinal cannabis products.

The two products will expand the group's current range and will be bottled and sold under its MediCabilis brand.

Bod says the products, CBD isolates in 2.5 per cent and 10 per cent strengths, will allow for the company to target a larger portion of the addressable market.

"Both new products stem from the considerable R&D initiatives that Bod has undertaken in relation to Bod's high-quality extracts," says Bod CEO Jo Patterson.

"Bod is one of the only companies to have completed a Phase I clinical trial using a finished dose form and cannabis extract and this gives prescribers and patients tremendous confidence in our product."

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