TORONTO, Nov. 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mountain Valley MD Holdings Inc. (the “Company” or “MVMD”) (CSE: MVMD) (OTCQB: MVMDF) (FRA: 20MP) is pleased to provide a business update and details of its current commercialization strategy.
MVMD is an early-stage biotech business which, since inception, has focused its resources on investing in multiple research and development (“R&D”) initiatives. The Company is pleased to confirm that it has shifted focus to the commercialization strategy for those of its projects and technologies that it believes will best provide viable revenue streams for long-term company health and shareholder value.
There are three primary lines of business MVMD is currently working towards commercial advancement in:
(1) novel innovations that improve the administration and efficacy of nutraceutical health and wellness products;
(2) agricultural plant signaling technology that organically drives increases in crop yields and supports the reduction of fertilizer usage; and
(3) the application of solubilized drugs to positively impact husbandry animal health.
“This is a significant milestone for MVMD as we transition from an R&D-focused biotech start-up business into a commercially focused biotech entity with revenue-generating activities,” stated Dennis Hancock, President & CEO of MVMD. “We believe we have identified a great pathway to generate positive cashflow as early as the 2023 calendar year that will support our goal to create shareholder value. I believe this next phase of growth for MVMD will be an exciting validation of our progress.”
In support of its commercialization efforts, MVMD holds a license from Agrarius Corp. for the rights to distribute its Agrarius plant signaling technology, and currently has two wholly owned technologies; a) patented Quicksome™ molecule formulation and delivery technology, and b) patented Quicksol™ solubility formulation and delivery technology.
LINE OF BUSINESS UPDATES:
Nutraceuticals
As previously disclosed, following evaluations of North American GMP manufacturing options for MVMD’s nutraceutical product strategy, the Company entered into a license agreement with its selected third-party lead production partner in the United States. The Company strategically secured its lead manufacturing partner as a licensee, who will in turn produce nutraceutical products based on, or embodying, MVMD’s proprietary technologies for third parties, who will then be approved by MVMD and who will have an agreement with Company. The Company believes this strategy will help to ensure product quality, support the ability to scale production, streamline the audit process for royalty agreements, and provide the necessary protection of its technology and trade secrets, versus having numerous licensed partners, each replicating the manufacturing process for their own products.
Securing the lead manufacturer and finalizing the scaled GMP production environment aligns with MVMD’s anticipated increased business development efforts and the Company’s plans to secure additional nutraceutical licensing partnerships for production in the 2023 calendar year. This timeline has been updated from the anticipated late 2022 date due to the licensed third-party lead production partner’s current process to establish a scaled GMP production line capable of larger volume outputs, including the installation of equipment to support the required manufacturing process that embeds MVMD’s Quicksome™ formulation approach.
MVMD’s production partner has been working to support the Company’s license agreement with Circadian Wellness Corp. (“Circadian”) by way of finalizing the proprietary formulations for mushroom-infused products Circadian intends to market under its Eons brand. Circadian’s license from MVMD supports the desire to achieve an increase in overall molecule efficacy with the Company’s Quicksome™ technology applied across a variety of rapid dissolve sublingual and dermal products in the functional mushroom space. The initial product formulation work and dissolution testing has been positive in MVMD’s view.
In early November, Circadian launched its initial products in the nutraceutical space for the United States market: a mushroom infused “smart coffee” and a chewable gummy product designed to aid in sleep. The focus in the next product phase for the Eons brand is mushroom-infused sublingual sleep and energy products and a pain management cream that embodies MVMD’s technology. Although outside of MVMD’s control, it is anticipated that Circadian will be introducing consumer products that embody MVMD’s technology under its Eons brand for sale in the United States in the first half of the 2023 calendar year.
Agriculture
In September 2022, the Company announced the initiation of commercial sales activity and related business development investments to support in-field trialing of Agrarius, a certified organic product owned by Agrarius Corp. (“AC”). AC isa private US corporation in which the Company holds an equity interest and from which it has licensed certain rights regarding the distribution of AC’s product, Agrarius . The Agrarius product is delivered in a liquid concentrate form that gets mixed with water at the point of application and then applied via sprayer to agricultural crop plants ideally twice during a plant’s lifecycle. Agrarius has been tested across numerous major agricultural crops and has demonstrated its ability to naturally increase crop yields from approximately ten to fifty percent or more depending on crop type, reduce fertilizer usage by more than thirty percent, and increase general resilience to pests and climate change forces such as drought.
“We believe Agrarius presents a significant opportunity to support MVMD’s growth objectives given the rapidly changing global agricultural landscape,” continued Mr. Hancock. “With the significant global agricultural pressures we are seeing with mass fertilizer shortages, unprecedented climate change impact, and the urban sprawl limiting available farmlands, we believe we are in the perfect place to positively help address some of the key global food supply issues.”
The Agrarius product works by activating the plants’ “defense mechanisms” at the cellular level, without the actual stress factor. The intended effect of Agrarius is that treated plants grow deeper roots and open up their foliage to optimize the effect of photosynthesis, thus increasing growth hormones, plant efficiency for water use and nutrients, decreasing the requirement of fertilizer where used, and increasing overall resistance to diseases and stressed climate conditions. Agrarius technology enables direct plant communication by mimicking naturally occurring organic molecules that correspond to various plant survival instincts, which improves the natural defense mechanisms of the plant to overcome environmental stresses. Agrarius works by sending signals that a plant understands and propagates through its roots and mycelial networks, allowing nearby plants to benefit from the signals naturally while reducing the actual amount of product that is used on a field. These signals literally send information that stimulates plant growth, subsequently increasing yields, volatility resistance, and growth speeds.
By virtue of its arrangement, MVMD is an authorized reseller of Agrarius products and has commenced business development activity with large scale farming operations to induce trial activity on crops that would demonstrate the benefit to improving crop yields and the corresponding reduction in fertilizer usage where used in the specific farming operation. Additionally, the Company is working through a strategy of targeting large food supply businesses where significant purchasing power of agricultural products exists. The Company anticipates revenue from Agrarius sales activity in the 2023 calendar year related to the crop trialing cycle, whereby farming organizations would personally validate the anticipated positive impact on their crop yields and/or fertilizer reduction after it has been trialed on their farm. Revenue and the related ramp-up of sales growth in many cases is anticipated to take one full crop cycle.
The Company currently facilitates Agrarius product information and product trialing and order flow through its wholly owned and developed website IncreaseCropYields.com, including translation for Spanish and Portuguese languages. The website presents product benefits, enables clients to calculate crop-specific ROI and facilitates product trialing and purchase processes.
Husbandry Animals / Aquatic Species
As previously disclosed, the Company has applied its Quicksol™ technology to the drug ivermectin and believes a more solubilized format versus current in-market products would have novel applications across the broad husbandry animal and aquatic species marketplace.
The Company’s overall husbandry and aquatic species strategy was to develop its scientific assets with a view to licensing to third parties. Subject to final legal review and the Company’s execution of the final licensing agreement, MVMD has finalized the framework negotiations with a third party for licensing of its Soluvec™ 1% product to pursue sales in the husbandry and aquatic species marketplace inside Bangladesh. Related to the framework agreement and necessary government approvals, the pharmacokinetic trials conducted inside Bangladesh across husbandry and aquatic species categories have been completed by a third-party Contract Research Organization (CRO) and MVMD believes the results of these trials will positively support the value proposition necessary to secure necessary government approvals to commercialize inside Bangladesh in the 2023 calendar year.
Management believes that commercialization of Soluvec™ 1% inside Bangladesh by the licensee will commence in the first half of the 2023 calendar year, provided the Company’s final legal review and execution of the final licensing agreement is complete.
Currently, the Company is also in negotiations with a third party for licensing of its Soluvec™ 1% product worldwide (excluding Bangladesh) to further develop, produce, distribute and sell Soluvec™ 1%, or products embodying the Soluvec™ 1% technology, in the husbandry and aquatic species marketplace. The licensee would also service the production and supply of product to support the Bangladesh license agreement described above. Management believes that this is in line with its manufacturing approach to nutraceuticals, to engage with a limited number of licensees that will be able to produce/commercialize products embodying the Company’s technology, with the aim of allowing for greater protection of MVMD’s intellectual property as well as greater ease in managing licensees and resulting revenue streams.
Red White and Bloom Brands
In November 2021, the Company entered into an agreement with Red White and Bloom Brands Inc. (“RWB”), a publicly traded company that operates in the cannabis space in the United States. The agreement has been amended to be non-exclusive as RWB is evaluating its skew and product approach going forward and is uncertain at this point in time if RWB will expand their skew line to include MVMD’s technology. The original agreement established the terms upon which the Company’s Quicksome™ technology and novel solubilization techniques could be applied by RWB to various product applications in the space that they operate in. The Company has no immediate control of the decisions made by RWB that would bring any products with MVMD’s technology to market and is not actively pursuing any product applications in the cannabis space at this time. The decision and agreement to change the arrangement to a non-exclusive would allow MVMD to benefit from the arrangement in the future but not limit MVMD's ability to benefit from a similar arrangement with third parties.
Research and Development
In line with the commercialization phase described above, MVMD is shifting to a more traditional use of capital aligned to revenue growth activities. The Company will continue to assess the ability, viability, and desire to continue to develop its other projects and pre-clinical R&D work, however R&D expenditures are anticipated to be more narrowly focused on business expansion within the above three commercialization focus areas of the business, namely (1) Nutraceuticals, (2) Agricultural, and (3) Husbandry Animals.
ABOUT MOUNTAIN VALLEY MD HOLDINGS INC.
Mountain Valley MD is building a world-class organization centered around the implementation, licensing and reselling of key technologies and formulations:
- patented Quicksome™ oral formulation and delivery technologies,
- patented Quicksol™ solubility formulation technology
- licensed product reseller of Agrarius™, a novel agricultural plant signalling technology
Consistent with its vision towards “More Life”, MVMD applies its owned and licensed technologies to its work for advanced delivery of molecules for human and husbandry animal applications, including the development of products for pain management, weight loss, energy, focus, sleep, anxiety, and more. Additionally, MVMD’s work with Agrarius is focused on generating a positive impact on crop yields and reducing fertilizer usage.
MVMD’s patented Quicksome™ technology utilizes proprietary formulations and stabilizing molecules to encapsulate and formulate active ingredients into highly efficient product formats. The result is a new generation of product formulations that could be capable of delivering nutraceutical and drug molecules into the body faster, with greater impact, efficiency and accuracy.
MVMD’s patented Quicksol™ technology covers all highly solubilized macrocyclic lactones that could be effectively applied in multiple viral applications that could positively impact human and animal health globally.
MVMD’s licensed Agrairus™ agricultural plant signalling technology that could be capable of application to agricultural crops to naturally increase yields, reduce fertilizer usage, and increase general resilience to pests and climate change.
For more Company information and contact details, visit www.MVMD.com.
SOURCE: Mountain Valley MD Holdings Inc.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "intend", "should", and similar expressions. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information.
The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information as a result of regulatory decisions, competitive factors in the industries in which the Company operates, prevailing economic conditions, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company.
The Company is making forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the transition from an R&D phase to a commercialization phase of the Company’s business; the three (3) business areas of focus selected for the commercialization phase currently; the impact of the foregoing, including that these areas will best provide viable revenue streams for long-term company health and shareholder value; the ability and timing with respect to the generation of revenues; the commercialization phase being a validation of the Company’s progress; the use of a third party—lead production partner for its nutraceuticals business, the involvement of third parties and the direct agreements of such third parties with the Company, and the result of the approach being the protection of MVMD’s intellectual property, the ability to scale production, the positive impact on product quality, and the streamlining of the audit process for royalty agreements; the Company’s business development plans and goals to secure additional nutraceutical partnerships in the 2023 fiscal year; the production of consumer goods by Circadian embodying MVMD’s technology under its Eons brand, and the location and timing of such production and sales; the licensing and distribution by MVMD of Agrarius product and the relationship between such parties, and all matters related thereto, including but not limited to timing and business development efforts and details; the anticipated timing of revenues arising from Agrarius and the connection to the crop trialing cycle; the license arrangement between the Company and a third party with respect to its Quicksol™ technology in Bangladesh and all matters related thereto, including but not limited to the anticipating timing of commercialization; the anticipated arrangement with a third party regarding the development, production distribution and sale of its Soluvec™ product worldwide (excluding Bangladesh), and related matters, including but not limited to the ability of such third party to support the agreement with the third party in Bangladesh, and the impact of such an agreement, including it resulting in greater protection of MVMD”s intellectual property and greater easy in managing licensees and resulting revenue streams; MVMD”s agreement and future arrangement with RWB and the impact on MVMD of the amendment to a non-exclusive arrangement; the continued assessment of the Company’s ability, viability and desire to continue to develop its other projects and pre-clinical R&D work; and the focus of expenditures on the three (3) selected areas of business.
The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon. Any forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the Company's expectations as of the date hereof and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation.
Neither the CSE nor OTC has reviewed or approved the contents of this press release.
