EXCLUSIVE: Aurora Cannabis CEO Responds To Big Tobacco Concerns — It’s Not That Kind Of Partnership
In September 2024, Aurora Cannabis Inc (NASDAQ:ACB) launched a CBD lozenge in collaboration with Vectura Fertin Pharma (now Aspeya, Inc.), a pharmaceutical firm owned by Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM). The dissolvable product, branded Luo, debuted on Aurora’s medical platform in Canada.
To some observers, it looked like a stealth alignment between cannabis and Big Tobacco. But according to Aurora CEO Miguel Martin, the story is more nuanced.
“Our relationship really is with Vectura Fertin,” said Martin, noting the company now goes by the name Aspeya. “It’s a broader health and wellness company, and it’s really not so much with PMI, even though they have their own connection.”
Aurora’s strategy, he says, is grounded in medical science, not brand crossovers.
“We have always had a very conservative, pharmaceutically minded approach,” Martin told …