It’s time for your Daily Hit of financial News for March 23, 2020.

On The Site

Organigram

Canadian-based Organigram Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: OGI) (TSX: OGI) gave good news and bad news on Monday morning. The company stated that it had received approval from Health Canada for its expansion, but then also said its workforce would be reduced due to Covid-19.

Organigram said it had been carefully monitoring and actively planning for the evolving situation related to COVID-19 and the potential impacts on business. The company noted that not all of the jobs at its Moncton facility can be done remotely and that in order to protect employees it was expecting temporary layoffs. “The Company currently expects that its workforce will be materially reduced as a result of voluntary and company-imposed temporary lay-offs to facilitate adequate social distancing while the COVID-19 situation lasts. This will result in corresponding production and packaging reductions.”  Organigram said it hoped to “reallocate its remaining workforce as needed, utilize inventory already on hand and focus on leveraging its most efficient and automated lines of production.”

Green Growth

Since this story was published on Friday, March 20, 2020, Green Growth Brands informed its laid-off workers that they would get paid. A spokesman for the company said, “At the time of the decision, the company remained uncertain of its ability to fund the payroll for the period ending today, March 20, 2020. As of this writing, I can confirm that such funding has been secured, that payroll has been initiated, and that all associates released will be paid for their time worked.”

The spokesman also confirmed that Horvath resigned voluntarily and would receive no severance pay. According to the company’s Management Information Circular, “If Mr. Horvath had been terminated by the Company without cause or had resigned from the Company for good reason as at June 30, 2019, Mr. Horvath would have been entitled to a payment of $2,550,000.”

Mindbloom

Mental health company Mindbloom provides guided psychedelic therapy treatments using ketamine. The company opened its first location in New York City during the COVID-19 crisis. Mindbloom has quickly pivoted to telemedicine as the demand for its services has risen during the pandemic. Green Market Report was able to speak with Founder Dylan Beynon to discuss the company’s response and its plans for expansion.

In Other News

DEA

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced on Friday that it will be taking significant steps to expand marijuana research. “The Drug Enforcement Administration continues to support additional research into marijuana and its components, and we believe registering more growers will advance the scientific and medical research already being conducted,” said DEA Acting Administrator Dhillon.  “DEA is making progress to register additional marijuana growers for federally authorized research, and will continue to work with other relevant federal agencies to expedite the necessary next steps.”

This proposed rule will result in additional registered growers and a larger, more diverse variety of marijuana available for research. The new regulations will enable DEA to evaluate each of the 37 pending applications to grow marijuana for research under the applicable legal standard and conform the overall program to relevant laws.

Inner Spirit

Inner Spirit Holdings Ltd. (CSE:ISH) announced it has appointed Manjit Minhas as a Strategic Advisor to the Board of Directors. During the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Company has been maintaining operations with the majority of its Spiritleaf cannabis retail stores open and working with new customer service processes such as Spiritleaf Select & Collect in place to ensure the safety of employees and customers.

Tetra Bio-Pharma

Tetra Bio-Pharma Inc. (OTCQB:TBPMF)  announced that it has ensured that all of its employees work under conditions that comply with federal and provincial public health recommendations. Additionally, following the completion of its $17.8 M financing in February and early March, the company is in a good position to maintain its drug development programs.

Regulatory activities have not slowed down despite the COVID-19 crisis. These activities are now performed by Tetra’s employees from their home offices. Tetra confirms that it will continue all planned Clinical Trial Applications (CTA), DIN (Drug Identification Number applications), veterinary drug clinical trial applications (Experimental Studies Certificate; ESC) and Pre-Submission meetings in Canada and Investigational New Drug Applications (IND), veterinary IND applications, Pre-IND meetings (PIND) (including Type B and C meetings), Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) applications in the United States. European regulatory activities will also continue.