MIAMI & TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Flora Growth Corp. (NASDAQ: FLGC) (“Flora” or the “Company”), a leading all-outdoor cultivator and manufacturer of global cannabis products and brands, is pleased to announce it has signed agreements with TruTrace Technologies, Inc. (CSE: TTT; OTCQB: TTTSF) (“TruTrace”) and Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: APDN) (“Applied DNA”) to launch a complete and differentiated global cannabis product validation and authentication platform for consumers, distributors, and government regulators. This initiative further demonstrates Flora’s commitment to operational excellence and transparency enabling immutable genome-to-sale supply chain validation for domestic and international trading partners and government regulators, as the Company seeks to establish a new global standard for cannabis distribution practices. The technology integration and build-out is well underway, with management anticipating its use for customers in the recently announced agreements to export cannabis products internationally to South Africa and Australia (see press releases dated July 26th and July 29th, respectively).
Flora will use TruTrace’s blockchain-based SaaS software to track inventory and product quality testing, including molecular tagging through Applied DNA’s CertainT platform to track the cannabis flower and derivatives originating from its Cosechemos cultivation and extraction facility. The implementation of these technologies will ensure the products exported out of Colombia and delivered to global customers are derived directly from Flora’s operations, substantially reducing any concerns over counterfeit or illicit market products. Flora anticipates using this technology will further differentiate its low-cost, organically produced cannabis flower and derivatives from competitors as they can rest assured regarding the immutable journey these products traversed.
“In today’s globalized market, supply chain provenance is becoming an increasingly important component for every major international CPG company. This is particularly true for the cannabis industry, where concerns over the sale and distribution of products from the illicit market persist for businesses,” commented Jason Warnock, Flora Growth’s Chief Revenue Officer. “Flora anticipates that the added assurance, efficiency, and transparency brought by these technologies will optimize our value proposition to customers, differentiate us from peers, and increase our sales opportunities.”
“Agriculture is one of the oldest industries known to man, yet the technology necessary to support the cannabis industry continues to lag behind many others. This solution will empower Flora and its trading partners with tools needed to report and rapidly search through records in real-time,” said Robert Galarza, CEO of TruTrace. “Today’s cannabis industry is desperately seeking legitimacy as it gains global acceptance, moving from the underworld of the illicit drug trade into a transparent and highly regulated emerging industry. The immutable power of big data is the key to that trust, and we applaud Flora Growth for launching this cutting-edge initiative to lead the charge in setting a new global standard for cannabis distribution.”
“We are pleased for the opportunity to empower Flora’s global supply chain strategy with our CertainT platform,” stated Dr. James Hayward, President and CEO of Applied DNA. “Through our integration with TruTrace, we are injecting an unprecedented level of transparency, traceability, and trust into cannabis supply chains reflective of Flora’s commitment to its global customer base.”
About TruTrace & Applied DNA Technologies
TruTrace’s blockchain-based SaaS software is designed to guarantee product quality and strain genetic authenticity throughout global supply chains. Protecting consumers and brands from contaminants and counterfeiting is a key benefit of the platform under development. Shoppers Drug Mart, Canada’s largest retail pharmacy chain, currently uses the TruTrace platform as its underpinning technology infrastructure for traceability and accountability associated with its medical cannabis program.
Applied DNA’s CertainT® platform provides the physical tagging of cannabis products using a unique molecular tag to represent the brand and product. That tag is then tested at key nodes within a domestic or international supply chain. All authentication and chain-of-custody data is captured in the CertainT portal and integrated into the TruTrace platform. The molecular tag can be applied to cannabis products such as plants, oils, lotions, tablets, edibles, and their packaging to serve as an immutable indicator of authenticity, origin, and provenance.
Warrant Exercise Update
Flora Growth is also pleased to announce it has now received over US$10 M in cash receipts for warrant exercises. This represents a major milestone for the Company, with over half of all warrants from the Regulation A+ offering now in process of being exercised.
About TruTrace Technologies Inc.
TruTrace Technologies is the developer of fully-integrated software, secured on a blockchain infrastructure, that gives clients’ the ability to store, manage, share and immediately access quality assurance and testing details, COAs, as well as motion and movement intelligence on inventory. The platform was specifically designed to power the traceability of testing standards within the legal cannabis, nutraceutical, food and pharmaceutical space with a focus on the authentication of source materials or ingredients used in formulation. For more information, please visit www.trutrace.co.
About Applied DNA Sciences Inc.
Applied DNA is a provider of molecular technologies that enable supply chain security, anti-counterfeiting and anti-theft technology, product genotyping, and pre-clinical nucleic acid-based therapeutic drug candidates. Visit adnas.com for more information.
About Flora Growth Corp.
Flora is a cannabis company that leverages natural, cost-effective cultivation practices to supply cannabis derivatives to its diverse business divisions of cosmetics, hemp textiles, and food and beverage. As the operator of one of the largest outdoor cultivation facilities, Flora strives to market a higher-quality premium product at below market prices. By prioritizing natural ingredients and value-chain sustainability across its portfolio, Flora creates premium products that help consumers restore and thrive. Visit www.floragrowth.ca or follow @floragrowthcorp on social for more information.
Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This document contains forward-looking statements. In addition, from time to time, we or our representatives may make forward-looking statements orally or in writing. We base these forward-looking statements on our expectations and projections about future events, which we derive from the information currently available to us. Such forward-looking statements relate to future events or our future performance, including: Flora’s supply chain strategy; the size of markets for cannabis and cannabis products; our financial performance and projections; our growth in revenue and earnings; and our business prospects and opportunities. You can identify forward-looking statements by those that are not historical in nature, particularly those that use terminology such as “may,” “should,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “contemplates,” “estimates,” “believes,” “plans,” “projected,” “predicts,” “potential,” or “hopes” or the negative of these or similar terms. In evaluating these forward-looking statements, you should consider various factors, including: our ability to change the direction of the Company; our ability to keep pace with new technology and changing market needs; and the competitive environment of our business. These and other factors may cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement. Forward-looking statements are only predictions. The forward-looking events discussed in this document and other statements made from time to time by us or our representatives may not occur, and actual events and results may differ materially and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of uncertainties and assumptions, or the forward-looking events discussed in this document and other statements made from time to time by us or our representatives not occurring, except as may be required by applicable law.
