Avicanna is hosting its sixth annual Clinical Symposium in Toronto’s Mars Discovery District, and CEO Aras Azatyan joined the program to discuss the cannabis event and the broader moment in pharma. Azatyan noted in this episode of the Trade To Black Podcast that the US realignment has dramatically elevated the conversation with his pharmaceutical companies. institutional investors and pointed to the FDA’s recent breakthrough therapy designation for a THC-based drug candidate as a meaningful regulatory signal that cannabinoid-based medicine is being taken seriously at the highest levels.

Azatyan described the two-day symposium, which will take place on Thursday and Friday, as the leading academic and clinical forum in the field of cannabinoid research. Speakers include Dr. Hans Clarke, president of the Canadian Pain Society, neurologist Dr. Edmund Lewis, and a retired Canadian general, presenting sessions covering PTSD and veterans care, chronic pain, epilepsy, women’s health, and brain injury. Major industry players including Canopy, Curaleaf and Verdea are sponsoring the event.

When asked where the medical cannabis market is going, Azatyan outlined a three-level vision. A federally integrated medical marketplace modeled after Canada’s, including formularies, insurance coverage and compounding; and a pharmaceutical channel that pursues FDA-approved drug designations for specific clinical indications, with orphan disease exclusivity and co-development partnerships with existing pharmaceutical companies. He emphasized that Avicanna’s decade of Canadian clinical work, including nearly 15 government grants secured by principal investigators, allows the company to bring its MyMedi and Rolfito platforms, formulations and intellectual property across the border as US partnerships develop.

Azatyan closed by reflecting on what distinguishes Avicanna’s credibility in the clinical community. Unlike many Canadian licensed manufacturers that abandoned medical research when adult use opened up, Avicanna continued to fund and support physicians during that time, earning a level of trust that is now paying dividends as the realignment makes the medical opportunity a reality. He expressed hope that next year’s symposium could be hosted in a major US city, which shows how quickly he expects the landscape to change. Tune in for the full interview.

On today’s Trade To Black Podcast presented by Flowhub, hosts Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell celebrate Trulieve’s (NYSE: TCNNF ) first full trading day since its IPO. We summarize how the stock is trading, where the volume is concentrated and the main advantage of the first day’s price action. In the first segment, Michael DeGiglio, CEO of Village Farms (NASDAQ: VFF ; TSX: VFF ), joins us to discuss last week’s $15 million direct investment, valued at about $2. In part two, we continue our weekly Vantage Standard series with Vantage Hemp CEO Rusty Kuchta and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Paul Shields. This episode outlines the full operational process of the CMS CBD pilot;

It Trade to black The podcast, hosted by Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell and presented by FlowHub, opened its Wednesday episode with a look at Trulieve’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange. On its first day, approximately 712,000 shares were traded, worth approximately $7 to $8 million.

Village Farms CEO Michael DeGiglio is addressing investor concerns about the company’s recent $15 million capital raise, which was structured at a price that raised questions from retail shareholders. DeGiglio was clear that the growth was not due to the need for cash. Village Farms has been profitable on a sequential basis and has self-funded major expansions, including a 33 percent increase in its cultivation in Vancouver and a €30 million facility in the Netherlands.

In part two, we return to the ongoing CMS CBD pilot program with Vantage Hemp CEO Rusty Kuchta and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Paul Shields. Dr. Shields highlighted what real readiness looks like for an accountable care organization entering the pilot; Adding benefits to the CMS system, submitting an implementation plan, waiting up to 60 days for CMS approval, and then identifying eligible patients, especially peripheral neuropathy patients, using EHR data, navigation history, and. He noted that the four-month notice before the April start was, in his estimation, an almost impossible implementation window for lean organizations.

Both Kuchta and Dr. Shields emphasized that the broader industry underestimates the complexity of integrating cannabinoid therapies into care pathways consistent with Medicare. Awareness of ACO conferences has been low, with many attendees unaware that cannabis use has changed or that the pilot program exists. Kuchta argued that the CBD trial ramp is not just for CBD, but also for cannabis entering the pharmaceutical mainstream; when payers accept CBD, it flows to drugstore shelves, big-box retailers, and ultimately to the 69 million Americans on Medicare. Dr. Shields added that while broad-spectrum therapies in combination will ultimately yield better clinical outcomes, the pilot’s mandate is isolated to CBD, and the generation of clean real-world data now using Vantage’s 99 percent pharmaceutical-grade pure product is what will validate the next phase of value-based care for cannabinoids.

This and more when you join