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BCBUSiNESS.CA FEBRUARy 2018 BCBusiness 29 is in cannabis but not a lot about the process of biosynthesis in the plant," Page says. In 2003 he returned to Canada to head a lab at the National Research Council's Plant Biotechnolo—y Institute in Saskatoon. Toward the end of his decade there, he grew weary of battling a conservative Stephen Harper federal bureaucracy reluctant to support can- nabis research. Page quit in 2013 and returned to UBC as an adjunct professor, somewhat bored with the insular world of research and academia. "I guess I have Stephen Harper's gov- ernment to thank for my decision to go into business," he says with a laugh. In 2012, Page shared his busi- ness idea for Anandia with chemist Coleman, whom he had met a few years earlier when the latter was head of proj- ect search at the UBC-based Centre for Drug Research and Development. Page got Anandia from the well-known canna- binoid anandamide, whose name comes from the Sanskrit word ananda, mean- ing bliss—a nod to both biochemistry and the euphoric uses of marijuana. Coleman, who says the time was right for a "business to support the legal cannabis industry," jumped on board as COO. Two years later the pair applied to Health Canada for a grower's licence so they could cultivate cannabis for research. The application wound through the approval process at a glacial pace. In February 2016, Anandia "nally got the green light. "Health Canada didn't have the staŸ to handle the in¡ux of interest in canna- bis," Page says. "It felt like a rush to get into a rock concert." There's a palpable excitement at Anandia these days. Page's hectic sched- ule shows no signs of slowing down, as he juggles the duties of a company presi- dent who answers to a board of direc- tors, speaking engagements and keeping his hand and mind in the lab. "He's really the man in Canada when it comes to cannabis. In scienti"c circles, he is the guy who sequenced the genome and "gured out the enzymolo—y behind why cannabis plants produce THC and other plants don't," says Tim Hughes, a molecular geneticist who holds the John W. Billes Chair of Medical Research at the University of Toronto. Hughes was Page's co-researcher in the cannabis genome sequencing project—an idea he hatched over a beer with a colleague as something "mischievous to do," trigger- ing a search that quickly led him to Page. Last April at a UBC alumni conference in Toronto, called A Budding Industry: The Future of Cannabis in Canada, Page shared the podium with Raf Souccar, an ex- RCMP member of the federal Task Force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation, and Sana-Ara Ahmed, a phy- sician specializing in pain management and anesthesiolo—y. "I was trying to go out for a beer with Jon after the conference, but everyone was trying to talk to him," Hughes says. "His message to the audience was basi- cally that there's still a lot we don't know about cannabis because we haven't been allowed to study it properly." That's what Page hopes to do with Anandia: unlock more of the plant's secrets and give it the scienti"c attention our culture never permitted in the past. So far, the company has been funded through two rounds of equity "nanc- ing, including $4 million from cannabis- focused investor CannaRoyalty, as well as "nancial support from Genome BC, the National Research Council's Indus- trial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) and non-pro"t Mitacs's Inspiring Innova- tion program. Anandia remains majority owned by Coleman and Page, who likens the opportunities facing it to lying on a surf- board with a huge wave looming on the horizon. He expects annual revenue to top $100 million by 2021, growth that will be fuelled by a major expansion this year. As of last December, Anandia was close to sealing a deal to buy property in an undisclosed Vancouver Island com- munity, where it plans to build a canna- bis breeding facility that will employ 30 scientists and technicians. The operation will include space for indoor and green- house growing, plus labs "for large-scale extraction, analytical chemistry and tis- sue culture," Page says. Entrepreneurship may have a hold on Page, but the biochemistry of mari- juana remains this plant nerd's passion. "I want this to be a "rst in Canada and the world: a cutting-edge research cen- tre focused exclusively on the cannabis plant," he says. ■ The BC Wildlife Federation works on behalf of all British Columbians to protect and enhance the environment for present and future generations. Your gift supports conservation and helps ensure a sustainable future for B.C.'s fish, wildlife, and habitat. Their Future is in your Hands Jessica Vestergaard Development Coordinator 604-882-9988 ext 233 giving@bcwf.bc.ca Contact us today to leave your legacy of conservation! www.bcwf.bc.ca Registered Charity # 118801315RR0001

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