Zelira Therapeutics Ltd (ASX: ZLD, OTCQB: ZLDAF, Zelira), formerly Zelda Therapeutics Ltd, announced today it will bring its HOPE® Franchise to the state of Louisiana with a licensing agreement that will generate immediate revenue through a licensing arrangement which includes an up-front fee and ongoing royalties. The commercial terms of this arrangement remain confidential. The Franchise was launched successfully in Pennsylvania in May 2019 under Ilera Healthcare which holds the license for the state. Since entering the market, HOPE® has shown strong revenue growth establishing itself as the top selling formulated medicinal cannabis product line in Pennsylvania.

Zelira Therapeutics Ltd is the newly formed merged company aligning Zelda Therapeutics Limited, an Australian-based bio-pharmaceutical company, and Ilera Therapeutics LLC, a privately held medicinal cannabis and cannabinoid science company based in Pennsylvania. Together, the companies will have direct access to the U.S., the world’s largest medicinal cannabis market, with over four million registered patients, as well as other markets including Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom. This merger brings a long-term supply and distribution relationships with pharmaceutical grade manufacturers in Europe (via HAPA pharm BV) and the U.S. (via TerrAscend/Ilera Healthcare and Advanced Biomedics LLC.) ensuring access to commercial scale quantities of pharmaceutical-grade medicinal cannabis to supply large and growing patient populations.

Zelira expects to launch its global strategy to the state of Louisiana by first quarter 2020. The pharmaceutical-grade product line HOPE® was developed by the Ilera Therapeutics team to specifically address patient symptoms associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The HOPE® Franchise has received support from organizations such as HOPE Grows for Autism, a leading autism advocacy group based in Pennsylvania. Zelira’s unique ‘Launch, Learn and Develop’ strategy collects patient insights from the product that informs further product enhancement. Zelira is licensing HOPE® to Louisiana based Advance Biomedics LLC so that it can bring HOPE® products to patients throughout the state.

“Our objective is to deliver high quality, clinically validated products and options to patients and physicians. We are thrilled to bring this medicine to Louisiana and its approximately 5 million residents, allowing a broader reach for patient accessibility. Additionally, we are engaging U.S and international operators to extend the benefits of HOPE® to an even greater patient population while we continue to obtain data to gain additional understanding of the impact of medicinal cannabis on these patients,” said Osagie Imasogie, Chairman of Zelira.

Zelira’s Deputy Chairman, Harry Karelis commented, “This team has world-class expertise in clinical trial design, drug development, cannabinoid science research and product launch, distribution and management. With HOPE® in the U.S. and global markets we now have the accessibility to address more patient needs and the ability to distribute the HOPE® portfolio through licensing agreements within the US and globally, with expected revenues in the first half of 2020.

SOURCE Zelda Therapeutics Limited