/EIN News/ -- HUNTINGDON, Quebec, Aug. 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ROSE LifeScience Inc. (“ROSE”), a leading Quebec-based cannabis producer, distributor, and marketer, majority-owned by Village Farms International (Nasdaq: VFF), announced today that it has received a Cannabis Research Licence from Health Canada under the Cannabis Act. This authorization enables ROSE to focus on cannabis product innovations and developments.

For sanctioned cannabis producers, a Research Licence authorizing non-therapeutic research on cannabis permits in-house sensory and other consumer preference testing on many forms and derivatives of cannabis, with the intention of developing and refining products and technologies.

“This licence increases our capacity to drive innovation, from fine-tuning strain profiles to identifying and validating value-added technologies,” said Davide Zaffino, President and CEO, ROSE. “With the freedom to test products internally, our ability to serve the customer and consumer improves. This means consumers across Canada can receive products that are more advanced and more understood in a much shorter timeline. This benefits everyone in our industry.”

About ROSE LifeScience Inc.
ROSE LifeScience is committed to ensuring that consumers benefit from the responsible production, sale, and consumption of cannabis in Québec and across Canada. From cannabis cultivation to marketing, commercialization, and logistics, the Huntingdon, QC company plays a key role in the Québec market. In addition to its own products and expertise, ROSE provides specialized industry services to selected producers to encourage a diversified offering in the Québec and Canadian markets. Rose LifeScience is majority owned by Village Farms International (Nasdaq: VFF) with the balance owned and operated by its Québec-based founders. For more information, visit roselifescience.ca.

About Village Farms International
Village Farms leverages decades of experience as a large-scale, Controlled Environment Agriculture-based, vertically integrated supplier for high-value, high-growth plant-based Consumer Packaged Goods opportunities, with a strong foundation as a leading fresh produce supplier to grocery and large-format retailers throughout the U.S. and Canada, and new high-growth opportunities in the cannabis and CBD categories in North America, the Netherlands and selected markets internationally.

The Company's wholly owned Canadian subsidiary, Pure Sunfarms, is one of the single largest cannabis operations in the world, the lowest-cost greenhouse producer and one of Canada’s best-selling brands. The Company also owns 80% of Québec-based, Rose LifeScience, a leading third-party cannabis products commercialization expert in the Province of Québec. Village Farms ranks as the #2 producer nationally in Canada.

In the U.S., wholly owned Balanced Health Botanicals is one of the leading CBD brands and e-commerce platforms in the country. Subject to compliance with all applicable US federal and state laws and stock exchange rules, Village Farms plans to enter the US high-THC cannabis market via multiple strategies, leveraging one of the largest greenhouse operations in the country (more than 5.5 million square feet in West Texas), as well as the operational and product expertise gained through Pure Sunfarms' cannabis success in Canada.

Internationally, Village Farms is targeting selected, nascent, legal cannabis and CBD opportunities with significant medium and long-term potential, with an initial focus on the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. In the Netherlands, it is the only North American producer to hold one of ten cannabis licenses in this limited license country.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Valentine Vaillant
Chief Commercial Officer
valentine.vaillant@roselifescience.ca
438 989-6654