More changes at Cobourg’s Cannabis Facility

The entrepreneur who started the idea of using the old Kraft factory as a cannabis grow factory has now left the company.  Thomas Fairfull has been replaced as President of FV Pharma and is leaving the company.  Last October, he sold his shares in the parent company FSD Pharma for $8.5M (see links below for source) so he may be happy with the arrangement.  He sold his FSD Pharma shares at $0.64 which is more than they are currently priced at ($0.20).  The new President is Sara May, Ph.D. who was previously responsible for quality assurance at FV Pharma.  The announcement follows the termination of the joint venture between Auxly Cannabis Group and FSD Pharma which Fairfull had helped setup.  There is no indication of any significant change in plans for the Cobourg plant but Fairfull was a key player in the initial setup of the facility.

Announcement by FSD Pharma

Thomas Fairfull
Thomas Fairfull

“We are excited to elevate Dr. May’s current position to President of FV Pharma. Her significant experience managing cannabis operations has already proven a great addition to the company,” said FSD Pharma Executive Co-Chairman and CEO Dr. Raza Bokhari. “Her robust expertise has been remarkable and will support efficient advancement of the strategic objectives of FV and FSD Pharma.”

The breakup of the Joint Venture with Auxly was also confirmed but no further details have been provided.

A call to the company’s media relations provided no additional information. It’s not known what the status of the Certo building is – it’s supposed to become an on-site dispensary of FSD Pharma Products.

FV Pharma’s web site was not updated as of today and still showed Thomas Fairfull as President.  His bio described him as having “extensive experience in guiding companies through the process of developing, testing and commercializing products and consulting with companies bringing innovative products to market” so maybe we should not be surprised to see him moving on.

The list of the “team” does not include the new President Dr. Sara May and one can only speculate as to why May was not listed.  However, although the FSD Pharma web site is right up to date, the web site of FV Pharma is not.

In the announcement by FSD Pharma, Dr. May is described as having “over ten years of experience designing, implementing and managing large-scale research projects in the field, laboratory and greenhouse settings. Additionally, Dr. May has held numerous leadership positions within the medical cannabis industry where she oversaw project operations and implementation of quality control and quality assurance measures and standard operating procedures. Dr. May has accumulated expertise in National, International, Provincial and Regional Legislative Acts and Regulations.”

FSD Pharma has a significant number of alliances and partnerships but wholly owned subsidiary FV Pharma appears to be a major part of their production (that is grow) operation.

With the share price (ticker HUGE) down today to 20 cents, it would seem that investors are not convinced of the success of FSD Pharma – if it fails so too would FV Pharma since it’s wholly owned.  Update 15 March:  Investors must like the change – the share price has recovered and hit $0.27 today.

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gerinator
5 years ago

Hopefully the new boss with their past focus on “quality assurance” isn’t swayed to start cutting costs. Often, like training, quality assurance takes a back seat when things become tough (e.g.decreasing capitalization) for the company. My main concern is that FSD AND FV Pharma maintains a rigorous and superior control over emissions and contaminants that may be released into the environment; and not the typical negotiated-to-zero standards with the Government. Those of you old enough to remember the bad-old-days of Cornwall will surely know of what I speak. Even the Wheatabix plant emits an odour, thankfully it’s relatively pleasant by my standard anyway. Our Feel Good Town will become Our Stink Good Town.

cornbread
Reply to  gerinator
5 years ago

How come no experts ever talk about the carbon footprint of our Cobourg buses that drive around town all day with hardly any passengers for most of the day…that’s pollution.

Durka
Reply to  cornbread
5 years ago

That’s funny because I always see people on them. Also see many people waiting at bus stops.

cornbread
5 years ago

I hope the town of Cobourg is not left “Holding The Bag” on this one. How much are we invested??

Stewey
Reply to  cornbread
5 years ago

Please elaborate cornbread…who is invested and in what way?

gerinator
Reply to  Stewey
5 years ago

Both good questions from Cornbread and Stewey. Fact is we (JQPublic) don’t know for sure. Many of the councilor meetings prior to the announcements were held in-camera. So we don’t know whether financial offsets were offered and/or accepted. We can all guess at what types of offsets could be offered. The biggy example that comes to mind is the Medical Centre on NHH property that was to cost taxpayers 300K+$ (variations of tax offset, development charge offsets, perhaps others) that was narrowly defeated.