Despite the pandemic, a young Saskatoon-based company experienced a year of growth in 2020. The CEO of ZYUS Life Sciences says they now have six locations in five countries and have a staff of over 80, with five plant-based drug product candidates in the works. Brent Zettl  says three are cannabinoid  formulations and two are protein-based.

One of the protein-based products is a COVID-19 vaccine that ZYUS has been working on along with VIDO located on the University of Saskatchewan campus. He expects pre-clinical trials on that project early this year. Zettl adds that ZYUS will also be heading into Phase 1 clinical trials this year for pain management using a cannabinoid formulation. The vision is for these cannabinoid therapeutics to be an option between analgesics, like over-the-counter pain medications, and opiates. Zettl says that would be their ‘sweet spot’.

ZYUS was formed after the hostile takeover of CanniMed Therapeutics, which supplied medical cannabis to Health Canada. The takeover was by Alberta-based Aurora, which bought the company just before recreational marijuana became legal. Zettl was the President and CEO of CanniMed at the time. He and some of his management team formed ZYUS.