PA Options for Wellness ("PA Options for Wellness", DBA "Vytal Options" or the "Company"), a leading provider of medical cannabis products in the Pennsylvania medical cannabis market, announced today the opening of two new medical marijuana dispensaries, bringing their retail footprint to a total of six locations throughout Pennsylvania.

The first of the two new dispensaries to open will be Kennett Square, located at 716 West Baltimore Pike in Delaware County, PA. The Kennett Square location will open to patients on Monday, Oct. 17. The second location, located in State College, at 1653 North Atherton Street, will open to patients on Monday, Oct. 31. Both locations will feature on-site consultations, curbside delivery and an interactive pre-order menu with each dispensary open six days a week, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

"Vytal Options, a PA Options for Wellness medical marijuana dispensary, is excited to bring our excellent patient service as well as quality products to the State College and Kennett Square areas," CEO and founder Thomas A. Trite said in a statement. "We were one of the first three medical marijuana Clinical Registrants approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Health to conduct research. After undergoing an extensive review process, we were selected by Penn State University and their College of Medicine to collaborate and research medical marijuana."

To celebrate the grand openings, each location will kick off with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 9 a.m. ET, with members of the Chamber of Business, Penn State Research, and Balanced Veterans Network. A partnership with grower/processer FarmaceuticalRX has also been developed to support the dispensary openings.  A proprietary strain "Keystone OG" was created with the processing team at FarmaceuticalRX along with members of Vytal Options marketing and product development teams. The first 100 patients at each location will receive an exclusive, limited edition "Keystone OG" t-shirt to celebrate the collaboration. In addition, many of the state's top Medical Marijuana Grower Processers will be on hand at both locations, educating patients and handing out promotional materials. In addition, PA Options for Wellness will commemorate its latest dispensary openings by making a charitable contribution to organizations within the State College and Kennett Square communities.

PA Options for Wellness proudly offers a curated selection of products across it's brand portfolio, which includes byVytal, Mood, and Solventless. Patients can choose from a wide array of premium cannabis products, including full-spectrum RSO, access to a library of flower strains, solventless rosins, and their signature Troche sublingual. Vytal Options dispensaries will also offer top products from other highly requested brands in the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana marketplace.

"Pennsylvania has become one of the fastest growing medical markets in the nation and we are proud to be able to widen access to patients across the state," said Thomas A. Trite, Chief Executive Officer of PA Options for Wellness. "PA Options for Wellness will bring top-quality, innovative products to the medical market, meeting the demand of our patients while adhering to strict ethical standards. Providing therapeutic solutions, we focus on combining plant science and medicine to transform the lives of our patients."  

In addition to PA Options for Wellness' newest dispensary locations, the Company currently serves patients in the following areas: Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lansdale, and the Lehigh Valley.

About PA Options for Wellness

PA Options for Wellness was founded by Thomas A. Trite, PD, FASCP, in 2014 with the goal of creating a premier medical cannabis service model and becoming the leader in the emerging medical cannabis industry and cannabis research.

Headquartered in Harrisburg, PA Options for Wellness' mission is to be the preferred provider of medical cannabis to qualified, approved patients through high-quality products, and dignified, professional service. The company is focused on research, patient outcomes and quality of life.

PA Options for Wellness is proud to have been awarded one of the first Pennsylvania Clinical Registrant licenses in June 2019 in collaboration with the Penn State College of Medicine. PA Options for Wellness also has a 65,000-square-foot grow/process facility that includes lab space and is located in Duncannon, Perry County.

PA Options for Wellness will bring top-quality, innovative products to the medical market, meeting the demand of our patients while adhering to strict ethical standards. Providing therapeutic solutions, we focus on combining plant science and medicine to transform the lives of our patients.

Media Inquires:
Samantha A. Alderfer
Director of Marketing & Business Development
PA Options for Wellness, Inc.
[email protected]
717-418-4362

Gb Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB:GBLX), a leading plant-inspired, biopharmaceutical research and drug development company, has co-published a study in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology that demonstrates the efficacy of its proprietary cannabinoid-containing, minimum essential mixtures (MEM) for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). There is a great clinical need for improved therapeutics, and the market for Parkinson's disease treatments is expected to grow to $8.8 billion by 2026.

"Our drug discovery process has identified promising ratio-controlled mixtures of cannabis-inspired compounds for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, which have proven effective at reducing Parkinsonian motor symptoms in an animal model of the disease," said Dr. Andrea Small Howard, President, Chief Science Officer, and Director of Gb Sciences. "This study allows us to continue addressing unmet clinical needs through the development of novel plant-inspired drugs, and positions Gb Sciences as a contributor to the expanding world of novel PD therapeutics."

For this Gb Sciences-sponsored study, the discovery research using cell models of Parkinson's disease was performed at Chaminade University (Honolulu, Hawai'i, USA), and the MEM refinement and validation research was performed in a zebrafish model of Parkinson's disease at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). The study entitled "Identification of minimum essential therapeutic mixtures from Cannabis plant extracts by screening in cell and animal models of Parkinson's disease" was co-authored by Gb Sciences' own President and Chief Science Officer Andrea Small-Howard and her collaborators Michael G. Morash, Jessica Nixon, and Lee Ellis from the National Research Council of Canada; Lori M.N. Shimoda and Helen Turner from Chaminade University of Honolulu; and Alexander J. Stokes from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa (Manoa, Hawai'i, USA).

The sequentially reductionist process implemented in this multi-site study preserves some of the entourage-like effects of whole plant extracts while achieving "relative" simplicity within MEM that is a requirement for obtaining the manufacturing and quality control advantages of single-ingredient drugs. This paper identifies promising minimal essential mixtures of cannabinoids based on a step-wise, strategic approach to reducing the complexity of the plant secondary metabolome. The sequential use of in silico, in vitro, and medium throughput in vivo experimental systems has generated refined, de-risked mixtures that can now be tested in additional, higher-cost, preclinical model systems of PD.

Gb Sciences' Parkinson's therapeutics are currently being tested in a rodent model of Parkinson's disease at the University of Lethbridge, and these Parkinson's MEM have been formulated as Oral Dissolving Tablets in preparation for human clinical trials. The Company is preparing for the final rounds of toxicology and pharmacology testing as required for filing an Investigational New Drug (IND) Application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

To learn more about Gb Sciences, visit www.gbsciences.com.

About Gb Sciences and GbS Global Biopharma

Gb Sciences, Inc. is a plant-inspired, biopharmaceutical research and development company creating patented, disease-targeted formulations of cannabis- and other plant-inspired therapeutic mixtures for the prescription drug market through its Canadian subsidiary GbS Global Biopharma, Inc. The "plant-inspired" active ingredients in its therapeutic mixtures are synthetic homologues identical to the original plant compounds but produced under current Good Manufacturing Practices. Gb Sciences' intellectual property portfolio contains six issued U.S. and three issued foreign patents, as well as 17 U.S. and 51 foreign patent-pending applications. In its drug development pipeline, Gb Sciences has five preclinical phase product development programs. Gb Sciences' lead program for Parkinson's disease is being prepared for a first-in-human clinical trial. Gb Sciences' formulations for chronic pain, anxiety, and depression are currently in preclinical animal studies with researchers at the National Research Council of Canada. The company also received positive preclinical proof-of-concept data supporting its complex mixtures for the treatment of Cytokine Release Syndrome, and its lead candidates will be optimized based on late-stage preclinical studies at Michigan State University. Gb Sciences' productive research and development network includes distinguished universities, hospitals, and Contract Research Organizations. To learn more, visit www.gbsciences.com. 

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain statements relating to future results or events, which are forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "intends," "plans," "may," "could," "should," "anticipates," "likely," "believes" and words of similar import may identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts, but instead represent only the Company's belief regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Company's control. It is possible that the Company's actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. Further, information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's business and financial and other results, are contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release, and we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or correct any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur or of which we hereafter become aware.

mRNA Victoria announces that the developers of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine will also establish an Asia-Pacific mRNA clinical research and development centre, enabling Victorian and Australian researchers to advance the next generation of transformative mRNA vaccines and therapies by partnering on scientific mentoring, business development advice and drug design. 

Once operational, the new facility to be based in Melbourne, will manufacture next generation mRNA treatments and vaccines for research and clinical trials, including potential infectious diseases, cancer medicines and personalised cancer treatments. The facility will form part of BioNTech's global network and attract demand for Melbourne's clinical trial expertise from researchers locally, nationally, and globally.

In establishing its first Asia-Pacific clinical development and research collaboration centre in Melbourne, BioNTech will provide state-of-the-art drug development and translational research capabilities to the local ecosystem.

Through this partnership with the Victorian State Government, BioNTech will collaborate with medical researchers, supporting with their expertise in mRNA-based drug design and development to further accelerate medical breakthroughs and the translation of research into commercial products.

BioNTech will also establish their AI-driven early warning platform in Victoria, ensuring Australia is at the forefront of global identification and response to future pandemics. 

Founded in 2008 in Germany, BioNTech has become a world leader in mRNA research, especially in infectious disease and oncology. The company has become well-known in recent years through the successful development of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19 which is based on BioNTech's proprietary mRNA technology.

With global medical research over the next decade expected to be dominated by mRNA research, Melbourne has become the leading site for medical research in the Asia-Pacific, home to global innovative biotechnology companies and world-renowned medical research institutions.

Following the recent agreement with Moderna to establish population-scale commercial mRNA vaccine manufacturing in Melbourne, the establishment of BioNTech's clinical-scale manufacturing facility means Victoria will be the first location in the world with the world's two leading mRNA companies operating manufacturing facilities.

The Victorian State Government has invested $1.3 billion in medical research since 2014 and has helped create more than 100,000 direct and indirect full-time jobs in the state's biotech sector.

Quotes attributable to Victorian Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy Jaala Pulford

"This agreement establishes Victoria as the leading site for mRNA research in the Asia-Pacific. The state-of-the-art facility is the missing link in our mRNA ecosystem and means Victorians can be the first in the world to potentially receive new vaccines and treatments for oncology and infectious diseases. It is a gamechanger for our medical research community and could lead to better health outcomes for patients worldwide and jobs for Victorians for decades to come."

Quotes attributable to Victorian Treasurer and Minister for Economic Development Tim Pallas

"It is a coup for a global innovation leader like BioNTech to establish their regional research and clinical operations in Victoria. This will see incredible collaboration opportunities for our local researchers and biotechnology companies and more specialist high-value jobs for Victorians."

Quotes attributable to Professor Uğur Şahin, CEO and Co-Founder of BioNTech

"Science and innovation can only make a difference if it is applied outside of the laboratories and reaches people worldwide. This partnership is a major step forward to enable access to mRNA technology and promote collaboration. Australia provides excellent academic research, and we are looking forward to collaborating with world-class scientists and researchers to strengthen Australia's mRNA ecosystem and jointly develop novel treatments and vaccines for people worldwide."

Quotes attributable to Michael Kapel, CEO of mRNA Victoria

"This is a very significant development for medical research in Melbourne and the Asia-Pacific region. BioNTech will accelerate the capability of the research community to translate their critical R&D into clinical outcomes at pace and scale."

-THE END- 

mRNA Victoria is a whole of government agency responsible for driving the development and delivery of the Victorian Government's agenda to establish the leading hub in Asia-Pacific for mRNA research, commercialisation and manufacturing.   

mRNA Victoria identifies key capabilities, gaps and opportunities and leads the engagement and partnership with domestic and international companies, researchers and stakeholders on behalf of the Victorian Government to build RNA capability through a suite of investments and programs.

In performing these functions, mRNA Victoria is advised by a Scientific Advisory Group made up of world leading experts from the medical research sector and is also staffed with experts in medical research and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Find out more at http://www.djpr.vic.gov.au/mrnavictoria