Welcome to Business of Cannabis’ new weekly strategic digest tracking the financial health, market moves, and corporate developments shaping the European cannabis sector.

The frenetic pace of company updates across various cannabis-based sectors comes as the industry prepares to descend on Berlin and London for European Cannabis Week where the latest insights from the world’s leading voices will take centre stage across four separate events taking place from June 19-25. 

For further real-time updates on market dynamics, market sizing and evolving regulations, pre-orders for the soon-to-be-launched digital report from Prohibition Partners are now available here. 

DanCann Pharma 

Earlier this month, Business of Cannabis reported that Denmark had officially passed legislation which will solidify its long-running medical cannabis pilot programme as a permanent fixture of its national healthcare system, starting on January 01, 2026.

This week, Danish companies operating within this existing framework that stand to have a well-established foothold in the market when it is made permanent, have unveiled some significant updates.

DanCann Pharma announced this week that it has received confirmation of regulatory approval for the distribution of two additional products from Bedrocan’s portfolio into the ‘tightly regulated’ Danish market.

Bedrocan’s products have been available in Denmark since 2018, when they were registered by CanGross Aps in the country’s inaugural medical cannabis pilot scheme. In 2021, CannGros was acquired by DanCann as a wholly owned subsidiary.

As such, DanCann now holds the distribution right to Bedrocan’s medical products in Denmark, where both companies are based. Through this partnership, it and already offers a trio of products Bedrocan, Bedica, and Bediol ‘to all Danish pharmacies’.

It also signed a deal with German pharmaceutical firm MYCB1 GmbH to distribute its full-spectrum cannabis extracts in 2023, derived from Bedrocan’s flowers, in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

At the time, DanCann announced plans to launch the same varieties of its existing Bedrocan-based portfolio in ‘extract formats’ in varying strengths in the near future, while also announcing plans to introduce Bedrolite in extract, granular and flower formats.

Now, DanCann has confirmed the receipt of approval from the Danish Medicines Agency to launch both Bedrolite and Bedrobinol, and expects them to be available in the next two months.

Bedrolite is CBD-dominant granulate designed for vaporisation, with approximately 9% CBD and less than 1% THC, while Bedrobinol by contrast is a THC-dominant flos product, containing 13.5% THC and less than 1% CBD.

With products under the pilot scheme receiving a 50% subsidy from the government, patients will pay approximately DKK 250.00 per five-gram unit for these new products, equivalent to around DKK 50.00 (£5.65) per gram.

Big Moves in the Pharmaceutical Cannabis Sector

Phytanix Inc

Phytanix Bio, a preclinical cannabinoid pharmaceutical company, founded by former members of GW Pharmaceuticals, has announced the completion of a merger with NASDAQ-listed Protagenic Therapeutics.

The pair entered into a ‘definitive share exchange agreement’, seeing their respective stock combined, forming a new entity called Phytanix Inc.

Having completed the transaction on May 16, shares of Protagenic, which has seen its stock price drop by over 85% over the past year, has experienced a significant rebound.

On Monday, its shareprice surged by over 306%, seeing it net around $3.1m in warrant exchanges over the last four days, which it said it will put towards supporting its newly expanded drug development pipeline.

Under the terms of the deal Phytanix stockholders own nearly 65% of the combined entity, leaving approximately 35% ownership for Protagenic stockholders.

Phytanix Inc brings together the two promising drug development pipelines focused on stress-related and CNS disorders, including five preclinical assets and one clinical-stage asset.

While Protagenic focuses on developing peptides for stress-related disorders, Phytanix is squarely focused on ‘cannabinoid and cannabinoid-like innovative drugs’.

It cannabinoid assets include multiple compounds with ‘composition-of-matter IP’, reportedly holding potential in central nervous system (CNS), cardiometabolic, and other indications.

Furthermore, it touts a proprietary molecule with significant potential in the obesity, metabolic dysfunction sector, a market currently experiencing a major boon following the emergence of treatments like Ozempic.

Avecho and Sandoz 

Australia’s Avecho Biotechnology has announced a major partnership with Swiss pharmaceutical giant Sandoz to bring its cannabidiol (CBD) capsule for insomnia to the Australian market.

Under the exclusive 10-year agreement, Sandoz a global leader in generic pharmaceuticals with a market cap of over $20bn, will gain commercial rights in Australia while Avecho retains rights for all other markets.

The deal will see Avecho receive an upfront payment of US$3 million (approximately A$4.8 million), up to US$16 million in development milestones, alongside tiered royalties of 14–19% on future net sales.

This week (May 20), Avecho announced key progress in its Phase III clinical trial of its CBD) soft-gel capsule. The trial, which is the largest of its kind in Australia, now includes new recruitment sites in Sydney and the Gold Coast and aims to dose around 210 patients before an interim analysis expected in early 2026.

Its recent expansion has been supported by its recent licencing deal with Sandoz, which closed in March 2025, and Sandoz will support patient recruitment and provide strategic input into the regulatory pathway for approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

Avecho’s CEO, Dr Paul Gavin, said: “The licensing agreement with Sandoz has delivered the capital required to accelerate patient recruitment ahead of our interim analysis, a key milestone in the value development of the program.”

If successful, Avecho’s CBD capsule could become the first TGA-approved over-the-counter cannabidiol treatment for insomnia in Australia, a market projected to exceed US$125 million annually. No other company has yet passed a Phase III CBD trial in the country.

Under the partnership, Avecho will continue to oversee the clinical trial and manufacture the product, while Sandoz will handle commercialisation, marketing and distribution once regulatory approval is granted.