15 December 2021

Apollon Formularies Completes High-Volume Processing Laboratory

In Preparation for International Export of Medical Cannabis Products

•     Apollon Formularies completes state-of-the-art high-volume processing laboratory

•     Increased processing capacity to 20 Litres per day of analytically validated medical cannabis oil

•     Apollon to significantly increase its inventory in preparation for global export

•     Increased capacity provides readily available inventory for potential pharmaceutical partners to perform independent clinical trial validation

Apollon Formularies plc (AQSE: APOL, "Apollon" or the "Company"), a UK based international medical cannabis pharmaceutical company trading on AQSE Growth Market, is pleased to announce the completion of its high-volume medical cannabis extract processing facility in Negril, Jamaica. This new state-of-the-art facility has the capacity to produce more than 20 litres of full spectrum medical cannabis oil per day, allowing Apollon to significantly increase its inventory in preparation for global export to those countries where legal import is allowed, and to have sufficient amounts of medical cannabis products available for potential pharmaceutical partners to perform independent clinical trial validation.

Apollon's proprietary medical cannabis products were recently shown in pre-clinical 3^rd party, independent testing at BIOENSIS laboratories in the United States to be highly effective in killing cancer cells using state-of-the-art 3D cell culture testing. The successful BIOENSIS results in breast cancer and prostate cancer were previously announced by the Company. ¹ ² ³

Apollon's medical cannabis products are now available to patients by physician prescription and for clinical trials at the International Cancer and Chronic Pain Institute in Kingston, Jamaica. Apollon's research goal is to collect clinical outcomes data on these patients to document the treatment success predicted in its pre-clinical testing.

According to a recently published Allied Market Research report, the global medical cannabis industry generated $6.82 billion in 2020, and is expected to reach $53.88 billion by 2030, witnessing a CAGR of 23.6% from 2021 to 2030.⁴ Market revenue growth can be attributed to the increasing use of medical cannabis to treat diseases and conditions, rising research and development activities, and legalization of cannabis in various countries across the globe.⁴ The key factors driving this market is the increasing adoption of medical cannabis for the treatment of chronic diseases like arthritis, Alzheimer's, and cancer along with mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, and epilepsy.⁵ Another factor anticipated to propel the market growth is the rising legalization of medical cannabis in various countries that enables easy access of the drugs to patients.⁵

The oil segment held the largest revenue share in the cannabis extract market and was valued at USD 4.8 billion in 2019. This segment is anticipated to witness the fastest CAGR over the forecast period. This is primarily due to the increasing medical applications of the product.⁶

"There is an increasing global demand for medical cannabis oils, and I believe the oils that will be most sought after will be those that have been validated in  pre-clinical and clinical patent data that demonstrates successful results and not just random generic oils with no clinical testing. " stated Stephen D. Barnhill, MD, Chairman and CEO of Apollon Formularies, plc, "Our goal, as a Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) licensed processing facility, is to produce large amounts of the highest quality medicinal cannabis products with demonstrated successful clinical results for the medical patients in Jamaica and export for patients in other countries where legal import is allowed. This new high-volume processing laboratory will allow us to achieve that goal."

Dr. Herbert Fritsche, Apollon's Chief Science Officer, and Former Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Chief of the Clinical Chemistry Section at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas stated, "In addition to significantly increasing our inventory for legal export, the high-volume processing laboratory also allows us to produce and store large volumes of our medical cannabis products for additional clinical trials to be performed by potential pharmaceutical partners, as may be required for legal approval in their jurisdictions. Having this increased inventory of analytically validated cannabis oil readily available, allows our potential partners to perform clinical trials in a reduced timeframe and have confidence in the consistency of product and the dose amounts established from those clinical trials."

Director of Research Development and Communications at the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA), Felicia Bailey, says the agency is committed to facilitating the import and export of cannabis until the import/export regulations are promulgated. Under the Interim Measures, licensees can export cannabis inflorescence/buds and extracts from Jamaica to jurisdictions across the world. CLA licensees have exported to countries such as Canada, Australia, Israel, Zimbabwe, and the Cayman Islands. "Getting into the global space is what we are aiming for, as becoming global players is very important, and that is why we are doing all that we can to ensure that our licensees have that ability to export and they have been taking advantage of that opportunity," said Ms. Bailey at a recent JIS Think Tank⁷

Jeff Nagel, Director of Processing and Product Manufacturing for Apollon, commented, "I want to congratulate our extraction team for their efforts in completing this new state-of-the-art processing laboratory and their dedication to producing the highest quality medical cannabis oils for our patients", Mr. Nagel continued,  "The Jamaican landrace strains are giving us a very nice spectrum of not only THC and CBD but high levels of minor cannabinoids such as CBC, CBG and THCV for our medical cannabis formulations."

References:

¹https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/combined-apollon-and-aion-formulations-kill-breast-cancer-cells-through-multiple-pathways-301294012.html 

²https://www.investegate.co.uk/apollon-formularies--apol-/rns/apollon-formulations-kill-tnbc-cells/202106280700122859D/ 

³https://www.investegate.co.uk/apollon-formularies--apol-/rns/apollon-formulations-kill-prostate-cancer-cells/202107190700085858F/ 

⁴ https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/medical-cannabis-market-to-reach-53-88-bn-globally-by-2030-at-23-6-cagr-allied-market-research-301418361.html 

⁵https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/medical-cannabis-market-size-to-reach-47-15-billion-in-2027--increasing-use-of-medical-marijuana-to-alleviate-symptoms-treat-diseases-and-conditions-and-in-pain-management-are-key-factor-driving-industry-growth-says-emergen-res-301340954.html 

⁶ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/cannabis-extract-market

⁷ https://jis.gov.jm/cla-committed-to-facilitating-cannabis-import-export/

Further Information

On 19 July 2021, Apollon announced that its proprietary medical cannabis formulations were shown in third party independent clinical laboratory testing to be effective in killing both hormone-resistant and hormone-sensitive prostate cancer cells in 3D cell cultures by direct cytotoxicity.

June 28, 2021, Apollon announced that its proprietary medical cannabis formulations were shown in third party independent clinical laboratory testing to be effective in killing triple-negative breast cancer cells in 3D cell culture by direct cell cytotoxicity.

May 18, 2021, Apollon announced that its proprietary medical cannabis formulations were shown in third party independent clinical laboratory testing to be effective in killing HER2+ breast cancer cells in 3D cell culture by direct cytotoxicity.

ENDS

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

For additional information, please visit www.apollon.org.uk or contact:

Apollon Formularies                                                     

Tel:                                         +44 207 907 9314

Stene Jacobs                      stene@apollon.org.uk 

Peterhouse Capital Limited (Corporate Adviser)             

Tel:                                         +44 207 220 9795

Guy Miller                           gm@peterhousecapital.com

Blytheweigh (Financial PR/IR-London)                 

Tel:                                         +44 207 138 3204

Tim Blythe                           tim.blythe@blytheweigh.com

Megan Ray                         megan.ray@blytheweigh.com 

About Apollon and Apollon Jamaica

Apollon Formularies plc is an international medical cannabis company headquartered in the United Kingdom. Apollon Formularies Jamaica, Ltd is a pharmaceutical company incorporated and operating in the Commonwealth of Jamaica and a contractual affiliate of Apollon. Apollon Jamaica is licensed by the Jamaican government's Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) to purchase cannabis under tripartite agreements from licensed cultivators, process, perform research and development, and sell medical cannabis therapeutic products that include legal medical cannabis in order to treat various illnesses under medical supervision.