Rua Bioscience Limited — Capital/Financing Update 2021

Dec 17, 2021

MARKET ANNOUNCEMENT

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FOR PUBLIC RELEASE NZX Limited Wellington

Friday, 17 December 2021

Rua Bioscience given the green light to distribute first product to New Zealand patients

Rua Bioscience (NZX: RUA), the Tairāwhiti-based medicinal cannabis company, has received verification that its first medicinal cannabis product meets the NZ Medicinal Cannabis Agency’s (Medsafe’s) quality standards, enabling the company to distribute its first medicine in New Zealand.

The approval of the product means that New Zealand patients and prescribers can include the Rua product in their treatment plan. Rua intends to distribute product by the end of Q1, early Q2 2022. It will be made available as a prescription-only medicine through GPs and specialists. Rua be will manufacturing the medicine in its purpose-built facility in Gisborne, having gained Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification for the product earlier this year.

Rua Bioscience CEO, Rob Mitchell, explains the significance of this achievement, positioning the company well as it enters a new chapter of sharpened focus in bringing product to market and creating sustainable revenue.

“In the last two years, we’ve laid the foundations for commercialisation. We built cultivation and manufacturing facilities in Tairāwhiti, listed on the NZX and hired both local and international expertise to help us realise our vision of becoming an industry-leading pharmaceutical company. With this approval, we start the revenue generation phase of our company’s journey and deliver against our commercial imperatives in 2022.“

Rua Bioscience Chief Operations Officer, Paul Naske, says “Rua has hit this milestone as a result of the tenacity and hard work of our team, and we’re grateful for the careful stewardship of the Medicinal Cannabis Agency as they take the NZ industry safely into a new frontier of medicine.”

Further expanding on patient choice and accelerating market entry, Rua recently announced the proposed acquistion of Zalm Therapeutics, which shareholders will be asked to vote on in early 2022. The deal will enable Rua to supply New Zealand patients and global markets with a range of Australian-grown oil and dried flower products in the short term and product grown from unique Ruatorea-developed genetics in the longer term.

Rua Bioscience Chief Commercial Officer, Dr Andrea Grant says "our commercial strategy recognises the need to diversify revenue, accelerate market entry and expand patient choice. Whilst New Zealand may be a small market, it is growing rapidly. Patients and clinicians are relying on the local industry to provide them with brand and product choice to address their unmet health needs. This is a crucial step for Rua in meeting those needs.

“Next year will be all about going wider, faster and earlier. We are fully focused on meeting the needs of patients, our community and our investors, who have been steadfast in their support.”

ENDS

For media enquiries please contact: Kerry Donovan Communications Manager +64 (21) 128 7689 kerry.donovan@ruabio.com

About Rua Bioscience

Rua Bioscience (RUA:NZX) is a vertically integrated New Zealand pharmaceutical company, and a pioneer in the New Zealand medicinal cannabis sector. Established in 2017 to support economic development in Te Tairāwhiti, Rua holds licences to cultivate and manufacture medicinal cannabis products, has two commercial-scale facilities and holds an exclusive contract with German distributer Nimbus Health to supply dried flower. Rua’s knowledge of the global market and expertise in cannabis plant chemistry and analytics, cultivation optimisation, plant processing and pharmaceutical manufacturing supports its strategy to identify long-term value opportunities in agritech and pharmaceuticals. www.ruabio.com

About the New Zealand Market

Data released by the Ministry of Health under the Official Information Act shows that the number of packs of medicinal cannabis prescribed and supplied in New Zealand is growing at an average rate of 250 per cent annually. The number of packs supplied in New Zealand in the year to 30 June 2021 was over 31,000; compared to just 2,000 in 2018.

This growth is in spite of patients’ ability to access medicinal cannabis being constrained by a lack of available products, limited prescriber understanding of the clinical benefits of medicinal cannabis and the absence of government subsidies. According to a study published in the British Journal of General Practice, CBD oils are commonly prescribed in New Zealand for pain, epilepsy and anxiet ~~y~~[[1]] .

Research cited

1. Gulbransen, G., Xu, W., & Arroll, B. (2020). Cannabidiol prescription in clinical practice: an audit on the first 400 patients in New Zealand. BJGP open, 4(1), bjgpopen20X101010. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgpopen20X101010