Founded in 2017 by former JP Morgan banker, Ben Langley, and Dr Ian Atkinson, Grow Group is working to improve access to medical cannabis to patients across the UK and the globe.
London-based biopharmaceutical company Grow Group has patients at the heart of its strategy, having partnerships with some of the UK’s leading medical cannabis clinics to bring its broad portfolio of cannabis medicines to patients that need them at an affordable price, already helping over 1200 patients with access every month.
The company recently embarked on its first crowdfunding round, reaching its minimum target in just one hour, and acquired its first company, Sanoid Isolates, the Spanish cannabis producer, in a move that positions Grow to be one of the leading global producers of sustainable cannabis.
Co-founder and CEO Ben Langley spoke to Cannabis Wealth about the company’s aims, cannabis innovation and plans for expansion into international markets.
Breaking down barriers to access
After quitting his position at investment bank JP Morgan in 2016 to become a socially conscious entrepreneur, Langley saw an opportunity to help cannabis patients that are facing stigma and barriers to accessing medicines that improve their quality of life.
“This rang a huge alarm in my head which was that this doesn’t make sense. The lack of access to these cannabis medicines is one of the most nonsensical things I’ve ever seen in my life, and as an economist and a logical person, if something doesn’t make sense to that magnitude then addressing the problem is a huge social opportunity. I decided that cannabis was the right mission for me and ultimately, it would be something I should dedicate my working career towards and hopefully make a bit of an impact in the world,” said Langley.
“We were founded in 2017 by myself and Dr Ian Atkinson who has a whole raft of patents and medical devices under his belt. We put our heads together and founded Grow Group, which exists to get quality cannabis medicines to the patients that need them. There are hundreds of millions of patients, globally, that ultimately could and should get cannabis medicines. But currently, the legal context, we see only a very small fraction of that number actually getting that medicine.
“So, everything we do points towards making sure to get more patients access to cannabis medicines that will ultimately improve their lives. We want to break down barriers and make sure that cannabis gets to where it needs to be and that the patients have access to it legally. We look at it quite holistically around what we need to do to achieve that goal.
“Having a quality basket of medicines is really key. There is almost an infinite combination of molecules so we know that cannabis is a personalised medicine – different combinations of cannabinoids and terpenes will appeal to different people. We know that people have different stigmas – some might like to smoke and somebody else might never think about smoking and instead use an inhalation device for a measured dosage, without smoke. Some might want to take oils. So, you’ve got this really interesting subset of medicine where, even though cannabis medicine is one category, within that you have got, potentially, thousands of medicines.
“What we try and do first and foremost is make sure we have got the best medicine, and help as many people as possible, then over time we can improve that with data and products.”
Improving medicines through innovation
Grow Group currently has over 50 cannabis medicines and continues to work towards improving this portfolio with extensive R&D, exploration of new technologies and the development of technology patents that will innovate the cannabis industry.
“Product innovation will ultimately lead to better patient outcomes. We start with the best basket of medicines. Then, we have been doing research and development since 2017 when there were very few legal markets, so, we started doing the research. Our research and development work focuses on improving the technologies that will ultimately move this industry forward,” said Langley.
“We have got, for instance, a very interesting technology around distillation and purifying cannabinoids that will go into our production facility. I will make sure that we can ultimately produce some of these medicines more cheaply and with higher quality than anywhere else.
“We have lots of Ph.D. scientists in our lab in Rothamsted in the UK and what they are trying to do is not accept the process of how cannabis ends up being a medicine. There have been 100 years at least of essentially zero innovation in cannabis because it has been illegal to do anything. There is a massive shortfall in technological innovation that would have happened had cannabis been a legal substance. So, what we are trying to do is look at the whole way cannabis is processed currently and how it ends up as a medicine, seeing where we have been and where we can improve things.
“Some of the improvements could be relatively subtle but a lot of things we are working on seem to have fairly substantial effects on the end product. So, the first technology that we have got patented and that we came up with ourselves is a way of processing cannabis that is completely different from any other process currently – it completely rewrites the rule book of purification of cannabinoids. Interestingly, it also seems that we can use this in formulations because the actual substance we use to process the cannabinoids is also non-toxic and therefore usable in formulations. So, it is about looking at processes, seeing where we can improve them, and driving at it as hard as possible with our team of really smart scientists.”
Expansion into international markets
Grow Group recently made its first acquisition of premium medical cannabis producer, Sanoid, as part of its expansion strategy to reach more international markets. The acquisition gives Grow the ability to control its own supply chain and ensure access to low-cost products for patients.
Langley commented: “We have become vertically integrated as we do most things along the supply chain. A lot of people will say they are vertically integrated and that is almost a goal of theirs. We look at it the other way round, where we have become vertically integrated because we have seen that in order to achieve our goal of making sure we are getting cannabis to as many places as possible, actually, being vertically integrated makes sense strategically.
“The acquisition of Sanoid Isolates gives us the ability to control our own supply chain slightly more, grow our own cannabis, process that cannabis extract, and make sure that those cannabinoids are high quality and low price.
“Spain has got a long history of controlled drugs exports, so, they have got a history of some agricultural controlled drugs. The regulatory infrastructure makes sense and Spain for us is a great location, great sunshine for growing the cannabis – everything that we grow in Spain will be fully sold into Europe. So, at the moment work is big in terms of distribution in the UK and Ireland, but we will also be sending to third parties to make sure that the others can also benefit from the high quality and affordable products we can grow.
“I have been doing acquisitions since I was 21 years old in some shape or form. We haven’t set out to be an acquisition company, but equally, I see a lot of opportunity for us to bolt on companies throughout the world. With global expansion, we know there are companies in different jurisdictions that have made good starts, who we could potentially partner with or acquire and essentially fast forward our own development in those jurisdictions. We have a company of dealmakers by nature, and the acquisition of Sanoid definitely won’t be our last.”
Grow Group was the first British medical cannabis startup ever to crowdfund, the funds from which will support the company’s expansion plans and R&D projects.
“The first goal of the crowdfund, rather than just raising money, is to build the community, because we know that achieving our mission requires regulatory change, requires political change and it requires public support. The big goal here is to build our community and make sure that people really buy into that mission.
“The funds raised will go towards expanding the facilities at Sanoid, as well as into doubling down on what we’re doing in the UK and helping as many patients as we can in the country. It will also go towards geographic expansion – both into continental Europe and other jurisdictions that are very close to going live. We are also having initial conversations around wholesaling into South America, Africa, and Australasia. So there is a lot happening in terms of geographic expansion and really our goal is to help as many patients as possible – we’ve done a great job with that in the UK.
“The key for us is helping patients globally, and we take the view that something that is going to be good for patients but also good for shareholders fosters an industry where shareholder outcomes and patient outcomes almost perfectly align, so, we think that having global ambitions is the right thing.”
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