A new era in sports injury treatment, performance supplements and sports nutrition has arrived. Starting January 1, 2018, athletes around the world will be able to use CBD, for the first time in the history of competitive sports.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) just removed hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) from its 2018 List of Prohibited Substances, freeing up athletes in the largest international athletic associations in the world like the IOC and FIFA as well as major sports leagues like UFC, NCAA, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, and many more to use CBD-infused products as to treat pain and inflammation based disorders.
As WADA is a global governing body, now athletes around the world can use CBD to treat pain, inflammation and injuries, without the risk of league suspension or a loss of sponsors. Professional athletes around the world can now use Phivida’s CBD infused functional foods and natural health brands, free from WADA restrictions, for the first time in the history of competitive sports.
Cannabinoids have just got mainstream, starting with the major leagues. But it’s investors, and CBD-infused infused functional foods and natural health products brands that stand to benefit the most.
According to Allied Research, the global anti-Inflammatory therapeutics market is projected to top $106 Billion USD by 2020, dominated by OTC drugs like Ibuprofen ($14.2 billion USD by 2022). The US opiate drug as an additional $17.7 billion USD by 2021 dominated by Oxycontin, Percocet and Vicodin. Both the NSAIDs and opiate markets are dominated by pain and inflammation pharmaceutical mogul Bayer (BAYN.DE), with a market capital of over $96 billion.
Cannabidiol is widely studied as a powerful anti-inflammatory and was even part of a US Department of Health patent application for anti-oxidant and neuroprotectant properties.
RISING DEMAND FOR CBD-INFUSED PRODUCTS
Timing the market is vital for maximizing investment returns. There is no better example of fortunate timing than WADA’s announcement coinciding with the launch of Phivida Holdings Inc.’s CBD-infused functional foods and natural health products, and the filing of prospectus for an initial public offering and an application to list its class A shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE).
As a premiere CBD brand, Phivida is perfectly positioned to capture a leadership market share in this emerging global natural health products market. The Phivida IPO offers investors with exposure to three major growth trends within a global health and wellness $1 Trillion USD in 2017.
Bloomberg predicts US cannabinoid products as a $50 billion USD market by 2020. Within the cannabinoids market, Phivida has created its own unique products category – functional CBD edibles.
High Times magazine produces a top ten edibles list and this year six of them were cannabinoid infused beverages. Phivida specializes in the CBD beverages avoiding a saturated confectionary soft drinks market with functional CBD iced teas, CBD protein shakes and CBD vitamin juices.
Health care practitioners, and now sports medicine professionals, and major nutraceutical distributors cite the paradigm shift from chemical based pharmaceuticals to phytonutraceuticals.
Supplements as a whole market is exploding, having gone from a $37 billion US estimate in 2015, to an expectation of $220 billion globally by 2022.
Nutrition Business Journal cites the two fastest growing categories as; meal replacements (14.8%) and sports nutrition (11.6%), two flagship CBD product lines at Phivida – both infused with a high dose of cannabidiol. Phivida’s nanoencapsulation technology loads CBD into a protective, hydrophilic, liposomal membrane that bonds better with cells. The result is a faster acting longer lasting absorption rates, with up to 400% more bioavailability and a timed release for enhanced duration in the bloodstream, and solubility.
Functional foods have surpassed traditional food topping a $100 billion USD back in 2015. The functional food industry is in the process of a massive consolidation as over $10 billion USD of new M&A deals were completed in 2016 alone.
Major food companies are acquiring new organic and functional food brands at a staggering rate, lead by multi-national conglomerates such as Hains Celestial (NASDAQ: HAIN), PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) and General Mills (NYSE:GIS).
It’s no wonder that major retailers in both the grocery sector, and the nutritional supplements space are champing at the bit to grow their selection of products for consumers.
WADA’s prohibition lift may be the catalyst needed for supplement giant GNC Holdings Inc. (NYSE:GNC) to get its year back on track. Having fallen from over $20 to just over $8 within the year, the ability to introduce new lines of nutritional supplements with pain relieving qualities could be a shot in the arm for GNC.
Whereas major grocery and pharmacy chains, such as Canadian retail giant Loblaw Companies Inc. (TSX:L)(OTC:LBLCF), which owns the well-established Shoppers Drug Mart chain. Unlike GNC, which to-date has been reluctant to carry CBD products in-store, Shoppers Drug Mart has been very open about its willingness to carry CBD and marijuana-related products on its shelves.
It’s still to be determined when and if that same level of acceptance will be seen on the US side of the border. GNC currently doesn’t carry any CBD-infused products, selling only hemp proteins as a remotely close cousin. Nor is CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS), yet.
Online mega-retailer Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is already selling CBD products. On track to hit the very first $1 trillion valuation, Amazon is ahead of the curve on the blossoming CBD sector.
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey stated he would support cannabinoid products sold in Wholefoods “if only the plant was legal to use and the local community approved.”
Not only is CBD-Hemp Oil extract legal under the Farm Bill, but WADA’s new rules has the potential for a massive demand from professional athletes, sports medicine practitioners and alternative health care practitioners and the everyday active health conscious consumer. It looks like John might get his wish.
Plant-based supplements like CBD are no longer limited to the estimated 17,500 licensed alternative health care practitioners, as majority of supplements are now sold through big box FCMD (food, club, mass and drug) retail locations.
Walgreens, CVS and Walmart combined for a total of 27,087 on-site pharmacists at 15,208 stores across the United States. With Amazon’s acquisition of Wholefoods earlier this year, it’s clear that the majors are looking to capitalize on the health-conscious consumer.
Now it’s a matter of CBD’s true market infiltration to take hold, and for producers to begin stocking only the best CBD infused FFNHP formulations.
Primed and ready to supply these retailers with timely product, Phivida boasts an entire line of CBD functional foods and natural health products, doctor formulated for enhanced athletic performance and everyday preventative health for active families.
INDUSTRY AND ORGANIC ADVANTAGE
Totally legal, and boasting a laundry list of health benefits, cannabidiol (CBD) is making waves through the food and beverage industry in the form of several new products.
So it’s no wonder that any new producer of CBD products will want to seek out the expertise of those already familiar with the food and beverage industry.
Assembling an impressive array of talent, Phivida’s management team is built to master not only its formulation, but also its branding and retail distribution.
Among the names on the company’s deck are Directors Bill Ciprick and James Bailey, who each come with decades of branding and distribution experience for industry heavy-hitters, such as Proctor and Gamble Health Care, and Red Bull Canada.
But for the consumer, the most important aspect to consider beyond retail availability is that of the product’s organic, whole-plant blends and formulations.
Phivida infuses full-spectrum CBD Hemp Oil extracts into special blends of functional foods and natural health products (FFNHP). All nanoencapsulated CBD used in Phivida’s products is hemp-derived from licensed hemp farms and federally legal and eligible for sale in any retail channel.
The company’s CBD-infused functional beverages are nanoencapsulated for enhanced bioavailability, and doctor-formulated for targeted outcomes. Phivida boasts quality-, and safety-tested products that are cGMP manufactured to the highest quality assurance standards.
Phivida CBD Vitamin Drinks use certified organic and plant-based ingredients. Phivida’s CBD infusions are also vegan, gluten- and soy-free with no sugar added and contain at least 35% RDA of Vitamin B complex and Vitamin C.
Other key sports performance ingredients include premium electrolyte replacements, glutamine for muscle, bone and joint repair, resveratrol for added anti-oxidants, blended in an all-natural fruit and vegetable puree with no artificial colours or flavours added.
Former President of the BC College of Naturopaths, Dr. Brian Martin, states; “Phivida offers legal, clinical grade, CBD, third-party tested, and safe for practitioners to recommend to athletes and patients.” Marijuana is federally illegal in the United States, but hemp provides a legal option for clinicians. WADA’s new ruling now opens CBD to team physicians, physiotherapists, nutritionists and kinesiologists. “Phivida is a high-quality brand for athletes who need healthier, non-addictive treatments for pain and inflammation,” said Dr. Martin.
WADA’s now-positive stance on CBD represents a great opportunity for Phivida. Competitive athletes in high-impact sports like football, hockey and mixed martial arts are often plagued with a lifetime of debilitating physical injuries and mental health conditions.
Phivida’s CBD infusions give athletes, their trainers, and medical staff a whole-plant nutraceutical alternative to highly addictive opiate pharmaceuticals to treat chronic pain and inflammation from these injuries and afflictions.
ATHLETIC ENDORSEMENT
Earlier this year, the New York Times published a neuropathology study that found that 99% of former NFL players tested positive for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). The NFL supports the NFL Players Association’s (NFLPA) study on the use of cannabinoids to treat chronic pain inflammation based disorders, like CTE, according to a Sports Illustrated article published on August 1st, 2017.
The NFLPA was coincided by the launch of the Your Mind Your Body Campaign designed to equip current and former players with the tools needed to achieve a healthy lifestyle, both physically and mentally and encourages an open dialogue on pressing health and safety issues, including CTE, and mental health.
Use of cannabinoid-based alternatives to opiates is not a new issue for the NFL. Many former players have become advocates for CBD as alternatives to narcotics, including former Baltimore Raven Eugene Monroe, Denver Bronco Jake Plummer, Chicago Bear Jim McMahon, and Ricky Williams who publicly stated a belief that “60-70% of all NFL athletes use medicinal marijuana”.
Despite the fact that both the NFLPA and NFL endorse a study of marijuana as a potential pain-management tool, the NFL currently suspends players who test positive for the drug and modified the threshold for a positive test for marijuana (i.e. THC). Finally, WADA’s new adoption of CBD as an approved substance, gives the NFL and its players hope for immediate relief, without controversy.
Phivida’s CBD-infused functional foods and natural health products are formulated with a special blend of nutraceuticals for enhanced athletic performance, and infused with a therapeutic dose of nanoencapsulated cannabidiol from hemp.
"This pain is never going away. My body is damaged," Eugene Monroe, 30, stated in a Washington Post article. "I have to manage it somehow. Managing it with pills was slowly killing me.”
With the lift on the CBD ban, WADA is finally taking sensible action on behalf of the athletes it is tasked to protect.
“Cannabidiol is no longer prohibited,” WADA said, maintaining that THC will remain as a banned substance. WADA cited the reason for the removal of cannabidiol from the banned list was because “it is not a cannabimimetic and does not mimic the effects of THC.”
WADA further clarified: “THC is still a prohibited substance.”
THC or tetrahydrocannabinol is the psychotropic chemical compound in marijuana that contributes to euphoric effects. Many CBD products on the market are marijuana derived and contain THC.
Purity levels in CBD-infused products will give an industry advantage to those producers that can utilize the most CBD, without delivering any THC.
Phivida’s nanoencapsulated CBD-Hemp Oil extracts, edibles and infusions, are federally legal, derived from Farm-Bill-compliant farms, and are now 100% WADA-compliant sources for cannabidiol. As well, they’re coming to a store near you.
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