CEO Spotlight: Ram Mukunda of India Globalization Capital $IGC

India Globalization Capital (NYSE: IGC) is a cannabis biotech play that we have had on our radar for some time now. Their cost and approval efficiencies make them very attractive as they will be able to deliver their innovative combination and multiple-end point therapies quicker and cheaper to the market.

Recently, we had the opportunity to sit down with Ram Mukunda, CEO and President of India Globalization Capital.

IGC recently pivoted its business model and focus to a very high-growth opportunity within the legal medical cannabis industry. Can you please tell us about this change and what shareholders can expect to see in the future?

Absolutely, we’ve been developing phytocannabinoid therapies since mid 2014. Since then we’ve been focusing on combination therapy for human and veterinary treatment, which is a huge untapped opportunity. At the same time, we’ve cleaned up our balance sheet and sold legacy assets (including a retirement of 4 million shares that will appear in our next quarterly filing). Most importantly though, we’re filling out our development pipeline and we’re gearing up to start clinical trials later this year. So three big areas of progress.

IGC has differentiated itself from its peers due to its ability to get products to market in a manner that is faster and cheaper. Please explain how you are able to accomplish this as well as the differences in costs and approval time.

There are two big ways that we’re able to cut costs. The first is in product development, which we’ve gotten really good at optimizing in the last few years. We’re now able to develop top of the line products and get them patented at a third of the cost of when we started. The secret is our strategic partnerships with high end research institutions as well as our own in house processes.

More significantly though is our expectation that we can conduct clinical trials more quickly and cheaply than our competitors. The key here is our careful creation of products that face lower regulatory barriers than human novel drugs. Our products all fall under the categories of combination therapy, multiple-end point nutraceuticals, and/or veterinary medicine. As a result, for most of our products, we tentatively hope to be able complete clinical trials in as little as 18-24 months at a cost of $1-2M per product. Dramatically lower than the 6-7 years that is required for an FDA novel drug approval.

Anecdotal evidence shows that cannabis has medical benefits. Which indication and ailments do you plan to initially target?

Because we’re in the process of filing patents, I can’t announce our entire product pipeline yet. So far, we’ve announced our work in three big areas: Pain, Seizures, and Eating disorders. All of that work falls under the umbrella of combination therapy. For eating disorders and seizures we’ve got both human and veterinary products. So that’s already a big pipeline and intellectual property footprint. We’ve been expanding that footprint rapidly and should be ready to take some of our most promising products into trials this year.

Are there other indications and ailments you plan to focus on?

Absolutely. I think the combination therapy and multiple-end point angles are totally unique and really very exciting both on the human and veterinary side. There are a lot of potential applications, so hopefully we can come back and talk about some more of our products very soon.

What products make up your pipeline and when can the market expect to receive an update on the status of clinical trials?

As we finalize development of several more products, we’ll compare data to determine which products are most promising to start with. I think we should be able to announce start dates for clinical trials within a few months.

IGC plans to utilize a three phase approach for profitability. Can you explain this process and the phases?

Our products go through an initial development phase (including filing patents), followed by clinical testing, followed by commercialization. We have a big pipeline in order to maximize our revenue potential through commercialization and to establish ourselves as an intellectual property gatekeeper. Cannabis medicine is still the wild west, so there’s a lot of prime IP real estate to snap up, which we can do very cheaply. Ultimately though we’re chasing revenue as fast as we can, which is why we’re eager to move choice products into trials soon.

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