Nanaimo’s Tilray pot stocks continue rising, firm now worth more than $21 billion US
Nanaimo cannabis producer Tilray Inc’s share prices continued its volatile volcanic rise at the start of trading on Thursday morning, rising another nine per cent before see-sawing lower.
Tilray was the talk of the stock market on Wednesday after hitting nearly $300 US and seeing its shares halted five times before closing at $214.06, a rise of 38.1% in a single day.
The Nanaimo company’s shares have risen more than 1,000 % since its initial public offering in July, and more than 500% in the last month.
READ MORE: Nanaimo’s Tilray briefly the world’s largest cannabis company
The surge was propelled in part by an announcement on Tuesday that Tilray had received approval to export a medical cannabis product to the U.S. for use in a clinical trial.
Its market cap on Wednesday reached $20.28 billion US, making it the largest cannabis company in the world. By Thursday morning, its market cap gained nearly $1 billion more, registering at an incredible $21.24 billion.
The high means that the Nanaimo firm is now the largest cannabis company in the world
Tilray and a researcher at the University of California San Diego believe this is the first export of a cannabis product from a Canadian company to the U.S., where marijuana is still illegal at the federal level.
Tiray will be exporting capsules containing a formulation with two active ingredients extracted from the cannabis plant for a clinical trial examining the drug as a potential treatment for adults with essential tremor, a neurological disorder.
READ MORE: Tilray the export cannabis to U.S. for clinical trial
The formulation will contain cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol, better known as CBD and THC, and will be used in a trial scheduled to begin in early 2019.
UC San Diego’s Dr. Fatta Nahab said he believes this product has not been imported from Canada into the U.S. before.
While several states have legalized cannabis for medical or recreational use, marijuana remains illegal under U.S. federal law.
Tilray trades as TLRY on the Nasdaq.
– With files from the Canadian Press
