United Kingdom-based Apollon Formularies plc has acquired patents for marijuana- and mushroom-based cancer treatments from Jamaican company AI Pharmaceuticals Ltd in a cash and stock issue deal.

A listed company on the Aquis Stock Exchange in the UK, Apollon has paid £95,957.18 in cash and issued 4,348,679 ordinary shares to Aion Therapeutic Inc – the parent company of AI Pharmaceuticals Ltd based in British Columbia, Canada – for the purchase of the patents. In addition, Aion Therapeutic will receive a four per cent royalty from Apollon for global distribution of products derived from the patents.

Based on the terms of agreement, Apollon has secured patents for compositions and methods for treatment of cancers; compositions and methods for treatment of inflammation; methods for treatment of human cancers using mushroom compositions; and methods for treatment of human cancers using cannabis compositions.

The acquisition provides Apollon with associated supporting data including the pre-clinical testing results from BIOENSIS.

Welcoming the patent acquisition, Stephen Barnhill, chairman and CEO of Apollon Formularies plc, stated: “This intellectual property acquisition is a win-win for both companies. Apollon’s Jamaican affiliate, Apollon Formularies Jamaica Limited, has Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA)-issued medical cannabis licenses for processing, retail therapeutic sales, and research and development which allows performing human clinical trials with approval of the Ministry of Health (MOH) and cultivation.

“Apollon’s CLA licenses also currently allow the export of these products from Jamaica to countries globally allowing legal import.”

In Jamaica, Apollon operates two subsidiaries – Apollon Formularies Jamaica Limited and International Cancer and Chronic Pain Institute. The former is a CLA-licensed dispensary in Negril, Westmoreland and the latter is a state-of-the-art, high volume processing and manufacturing medical cannabis laboratory.’

Barnhill said that he has plans “to immediately make these medical cannabis and medicinal mushroom products available” at both operations, “as well as initiating human clinical trials to validate the successful results seen in the pre-clinical testing”.

AI Pharmaceuticals and Apollon Formularies Jamaica had previously arranged for the testing of their respective formulations and products independently and jointly with BIOENSIS. Based on the success of the independent pre-clinical, predictive pharmaceutical testing of the effects of mushroom and cannabis formulations on multiple cancer cell lines, the companies entered into the acquisition agreement for the patents.

According to Graham Simmonds, CEO of Aion, “Apollon’s CLA-licences and current infrastructure to begin manufacturing these products immediately for Jamaican and international sales, resulting in a quarterly royalty payment to Aion for the life of the patents, could provide significant continuing revenue for Aion for a long period of time. Aion will continue developing and/or licensing products based on our six other patent applications, which include indications in use for psychotic disorders, weight loss and obesity, viral disorders, and interstitial cystitis.”

In the meantime, Aion will not be able to trade the Apollon shares it has received for six months from the stock transfer. After the six-month restriction period, Aion can trade up to 20 per cent of stocks, and an additional 20 per cent will be tradable at the end of each following three-month period.