Dr. Lui Franciosi reports

VERITAS PHARMA INITIATES CANCER RESEARCH WITH DR. DMITRI PETCHKOVSKI

Veritas Pharma Inc. has initiated a cancer research project to assess the effects of several human cancer cell lines against select cannabis strains, along with standard clinical chemotherapeutic drugs for comparison.

The company has engaged Dr. Dmitri Petchkovski of Fibroblast Consulting in Vancouver, Canada, to specifically investigate lung, prostate, colon, breast and melanoma cancer cell lines. Veritas's research arm, Cannevert Therapeutics Ltd. (CTL), will provide Dr. Petchkovski with the required strains and oversee the implementation of this project.

Veritas's chief executive officer, Dr. Lui Franciosi, stated: "We are fortunate to obtain Dr. Petchkovski's expertise, who will now begin the important task of scientifically determining the potential anti-cancer properties of Cannevert's cannabis strains. Cancer is a disease that has touched many people, and we want to provide physicians and patients with the best-possible scientific evidence when prescribing cannabis as a treatment."

Cancer is a disease that results from changes in a group of normal cells within the body where they begin to grow uncontrollably to the point that a lump (known as a tumour) forms. If left untreated, these tumours spread into the surrounding normal tissue or to other parts of the body.

According to Canadian Cancer Statistics 2017, there is an estimated 206,200 new cases of cancer and 80,800 deaths from cancer that will occur this year in Canada. Approximately half of all new cases will be lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers. This will mean about one in two Canadians will develop cancer in their lifetimes and one in four will die of the disease. In the current medical literature, there is insufficient scientific evidence that demonstrates cannabis or cannabinoids can cut the risk of cancer in people. Most cancer scientists focus on understanding how different cancers respond to specific compounds in cannabis. Veritas's approach will be to quickly access more cannabis varieties, systematically profile the effects of the whole plant using various in vitro and in vivo animal models of cancer alongside standard drugs, and conduct a clinical trial in the fastest time possible.

Veritas Pharma intends to seek patent protection for any discoveries made during this cancer project. According to this year's Zion Market Research report, the global cancer drugs market was valued at approximately $113-billion (U.S.) in 2015, and it is expected to rise to around $161-billion (U.S.) by the end of 2021. Within the next two years, the company would like to enter and actively compete in this market with its scientifically based cannabis therapies.

Dr. Dmitri Petchkovski, the principal owner of Fibroblast Consulting, has over 30 years of academic and R&D (research and development) experience in cell biology and medicine. He is an internationally recognized expert in the respiratory cell and molecular biology as well as pulmonary fibrosis.

Dr. Petchkovski received his MD degree at the Medical University of Belarus, followed by a PhD in immunology and immunotherapy of cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). He has worked as a scientist at the Interleukin biotechnology consortium in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Russia, and Riga, Latvia, in the laboratory to evaluate pharmacology of human recombinant interleukins. He completed his postdoctoral training at the Medical Centre of Freiburg University (Germany) prior to joining the University of British Columbia and the Heart and Lung Research Institute in Vancouver, Canada. He is the author of more than 40 peer-reviewed publications, primarily in the immunology, cell and molecular biology, and biochemistry, and he is a member of American Thoracic Society, Canadian Thoracic Society, European Respiratory Society, American Society for Cell Biology and International Cannabinoid Research Society. Dr. Petchkovski is the author of several patents, and he has played a key role in R&D programs, clinical development, and commercialization of cannabinoid therapies, providing services to leading Canadian cannabis pharma companies.

About Veritas Pharma Inc.

Veritas Pharma is an emerging-stage pharmaceutical and intellectual property development company, which, through Cannevert Therapeutics, is advancing the science behind medical cannabis. It is the company aim, through its investment in CTL, to develop the most effective cannabis strains (cultivars) specific to pain, nausea, epilepsy and PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder), solving the critical need for clinical data to support medical marijuana claims.