Avicanna has reshaped its board, accepting the resignation of director Paul Fornazzari and appointing capital-markets veteran Michael Kott effective January 1, 2026. Kott, founder and long-time CEO of CM-Equity AG, built the firm into a MiFID II–regulated investment bank before transitioning it in 2025 into a global single-family office. His background spans governance, cross-border financings, IPOs, and alternative assets — expertise Avicanna appears to be recruiting as it scales its cannabinoid-based pharmaceutical ambitions.
The strategic question is whether this governance move signals a financing and partnership pivot to capitalize on shifting regulatory winds. With U.S. rescheduling efforts advancing and European frameworks slowly maturing, cannabinoid science is edging back into the mainstream of specialty pharma. Avicanna sits at that junction: a commercial-stage operator with a Canadian medical brand, a pharmacist-led care platform, a vertically integrated API supply chain out of Colombia, and a pipeline targeting dermatology, chronic pain, and neurologic indications. The addition of a director steeped in capital formation and compliance suggests preparation for cross-border growth, structured funding, and potentially a more assertive business development agenda.
For patients and HCPs, the near-term impact is about standardization, evidence, and access. Avicanna’s RHO Phyto products are already distributed in Canada, supported by education and clinical content that aim to reduce variability across sublingual, topical, transdermal, and oral formats. The MyMedi.ca platform, with bilingual pharmacist support and payer adjudication including specialty services for veterans, is positioned to generate real-world evidence at scale — the currency payers demand for formulary inclusion in a category historically clouded by inconsistent quality and heterogeneous use. If the company can translate that RWE into payer-relevant outcomes and label-enabling studies, Medical Affairs will have a credible narrative to move cannabinoids from discretionary spend to reimbursed care pathways.
For payers and regulators, the thesis hinges on quality control and indication specificity. Avicanna’s majority-owned Santa Marta Golden Hemp subsidiary supplies CBD, THC, and CBG APIs, offering traceability and cost control that could support both consumer medical and prescription-grade products. That dual-track model aligns with how payers are drawing sharper lines between wellness cannabis and therapeutic cannabinoids with defined ratios, dose forms, and endpoints. Clear governance and robust compliance, areas where Kott has deep experience, will be essential as jurisdictions tighten standards for GMP, pharmacovigilance, and promotional practices.
Competitively, cannabinoid-focused biopharma is bifurcating. Consumer-led platforms chase scale; evidence-led players aim for indication claims and durable reimbursement, following precedents set in epilepsy and rare neurodevelopmental disorders. Avicanna’s mix of recurring revenue, an evidence-generating care platform, and an advancing pipeline could make it a partner of choice for regional distributors, specialty pharma consolidators, or digital health collaborations that need differentiated, standardized cannabinoid products. In a funding environment where family offices and alternative lenders are filling the gap left by risk-averse public markets, a board member with access to flexible capital could accelerate registrational plans or selective M&A.
The next 12 months will test whether Avicanna can convert platform breadth into regulatory catalysts and payer wins — and whether the new board composition enables the structured financing and partnerships required to enter the U.S. and select EU markets if rescheduling momentum holds. The broader question for the sector is whether evidence-led cannabinoid therapeutics can finally decouple from cannabis market volatility and be valued on clinical outcomes and reimbursement traction rather than sentiment.
Jon Napitupulu is Director of Media Relations at The Clinical Trial Vanguard. Jon, a computer data scientist, focuses on the latest clinical trial industry news and trends.
