Medicinal Marijuana Stocks as Acquisition Targets by Pharmaceutical Companies Begins

April 12, 2019

David Kideckel is a Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at AltaCorp Capital Inc., heading the firm’s health care and life sciences research. Prior to joining AltaCorp Capital, Dr. Kideckel was at another leading independent investment dealer, in his role as Director of Healthcare & Biotechnology, Institutional Equity Research.

Dr. Kideckel is a seasoned industry executive, having spent over 10 years in international pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies where he held executive roles in sales, marketing, medical affairs and international business development. Dr. Kideckel holds a Ph.D. and MBA from the University of Toronto’s Institute of Medical Science and Rotman School of Management, respectively.

In this exclusive 2,953 word interview, only in the Wall Street Transcript, Dr. Kideckel appraises the current state of the medicinal cannabinoid market.

“We’re the only firm in North America to have coverage of all three subsectors of cannabis, namely recreational cannabis, medical cannabis and cannabinoid-derived pharmaceuticals, and that’s the pharmaceutical type of cannabis.

For example, we’re the only Canadian investment bank to hold coverage on GW Pharma (NASDAQ:GWPH). In fact, we just took GW Pharma marketing last week in Boston and met with some of the world’s leading buy-side funds.”

According to Dr. Kindeckal, the investment upside will be in M&A:

“And M&A being a cornerstone for this sector as a whole, you’ll see, for example, one of the areas that we’re very vocal on is that, you’ve seen big beverages enter cannabis, Constellation (NYSE:STZ) with Canopy (NYSE:CGC), for example, you’ve seen big tobacco, Altria (NYSE:MO) with Cronos (NASDAQ:CRON), but what’s noticeably absent from the space has been Big Pharma.

Yes, there are a few smaller partnerships out there; there’s Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) with Novartis (NYSE:NVS), CannTrust (NYSE:CTST) with Apotex, which is a private company in Canada. But what we’re talking about is the level of magnitude of Big Pharma entering the space.

And having spent over 10 years in the industry myself, I know that Big Pharma is a very conservative industry, and once we see some more clarity and guidance being provided by both the U.S. at a federal level as well as the FDA, I think you’ll see pharmaceutical companies being less timid to enter the space. So that, I think, is going to be a focal point for 2019 and beyond.”

Get more top predictions from Dr. Kidreckal in this exclusive 2,953 word interview, only in the Wall Street Transcript.