The Valens Company Granted Health Canada Research Licence to Conduct Human Administration Trials for Sensory and Taste Evaluation of Products

KELOWNA, BC, Aug. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - The Valens Company Inc. (TSX: VLNS) (OTCQX: VLNCF) (the "Company" or "The Valens Company"), a global leader in the end-to-end development and manufacturing of innovative, cannabinoid-based products, today announced that it has received its Cannabis Research Licence under Health Canada's Cannabis Act and Cannabis Regulations through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Valens Agritech Ltd.

This licence permits The Valens Company to conduct research involving the administration or distribution of cannabis to human subjects for the assessment of taste, sight, smell or touch, subject to conditions laid out by Health Canada. The Company will use this licence to conduct controlled human trials for the sensory evaluation of its cannabis extracts, concentrates and oils, including vaporizers, and beverage and edible products, at its extraction, manufacturing and testing facilities in Kelowna, B.C.

"This exciting and strategic milestone gives us the competitive advantage to further innovate and differentiate our leading oil-based product offerings," said Tyler Robson, Chief Executive Officer of The Valens Company. "With this research licence, we are now able to perform sensory assessments at the product development stage to determine quality and marketability of our products to maximize potential launch success. Findings from future proprietary research initiatives will advance our understanding of cannabis preferences allowing us to continue developing premium, next generation products that meet evolving customer and consumer needs."

Sensory evaluation measures, analyses, and interprets the reactions of human subjects to products as perceived by the senses, and is used as a way of determining whether product differences are detected, the basis for those differences and the diversity of preferences. This evaluation method will enhance the Company's custom manufacturing and white label services with the added ability to assess the palatability of bespoke cannabis blends formulated with Valens' extensive terpene database. It will also expand the Company's innovation pipeline across all key product divisions. 

Jeff Fallows, President of The Valens Company, added, "Cannabis research derived from human trials is highly critical and valuable at this stage of the industry's growth cycle, and we look forward to having data-backed knowledge of how consumers experience different products to advance our research and development strategy, and in turn, bring consumer focused products to market. This research licence not only solidifies our position as a one-stop shop for our customers by increasing our presence within their value chains, but also provides added credibility to our platform as we look to expand to new markets."

About The Valens Company

The Valens Company is a global leader in the end-to-end development and manufacturing of innovative, cannabinoid-based products. The Valens Company is focused on being the partner of choice for leading Canadian and international cannabis brands by providing best-in-class, proprietary services including CO2, ethanol, hydrocarbon, solvent-less and terpene extraction, analytical testing, formulation and product development and custom manufacturing.  Valens is the largest third-party extraction company in Canada with an annual capacity of 425,000 kg of dried cannabis and hemp biomass at our purpose-built facility in Kelowna, British Columbia which is in the process of becoming European Union (EU) Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) compliant. The Valens Company currently offers a wide range of product formats, including tinctures, two-piece caps, soft gels, oral sprays and vape pens as well as beverages, concentrates, topicals, edibles, injectables, natural health products and has a strong pipeline of next-generation products in development for future release. Finally, The Valens Company's wholly-owned subsidiary Valens Labs is a Health Canada licensed ISO 17025 accredited cannabis testing lab providing sector-leading analytical services and has partnered with Thermo Fisher Scientific to develop a Centre of Excellence in Plant-Based Science.  For more information, please visit http://thevalenscompany.com. The Valens Company's investor deck can be found specifically at http://thevalenscompany.com/investors/.   

Notice regarding Forward Looking Statements

All information included in this press release, including any information as to the future financial or operating performance and other statements of The Valens Company that express management's expectations or estimates of future performance, other than statements of historical fact, constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the date hereof. Forward-looking statements are included for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Wherever possible, words such as "plans", "expects", "scheduled", "trends", "indications", "potential", "estimates", "predicts", "anticipate", "to establish", "believe", "intend", "ability to", or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will", or are "likely" to be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of these words or other variations thereof, have been used to identify such forward-looking information. Specific forward-looking statements include, without limitation, all disclosure regarding future results of operations, economic conditions and anticipated courses of action. 

The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward-looking statements include, among others,  regulatory risk, United States border crossing and travel bans, reliance on licenses, expansion of facilities, competition, dependence on supply of cannabis and reliance on other key inputs, dependence on senior management and key personnel, general business risk and liability, regulation of the cannabis industry, change in laws, regulations and guidelines, compliance with laws, reliance on a single facility, limited operating history, vulnerability to rising energy costs, unfavourable publicity or consumer perception, product liability, risks related to intellectual property, product recalls, difficulties with forecasts, management of growth and litigation, many of which are beyond the control of The Valens Company. For a more comprehensive discussion of the risks faced by The Valens Company, and which may cause the actual financial results, performance or achievements of The Valens Company to be materially different from estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information or forward-looking statements, please refer to The Valens Company's latest Annual Information Form filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com or on The Valens Company's website at www.thevalenscompany.com. The risks described in such Annual Information Form are hereby incorporated by reference herein. Although the forward-looking statements contained herein reflect management's current beliefs and reasonable assumptions based upon information available to management as of the date hereof, The Valens Company cannot be certain that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information. The Valens Company cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. The Valens Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Nothing herein should be construed as either an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or sell securities of The Valens Company.

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SOURCE The Valens Company