Pressure BioSciences Inc (OTCQB:PBIO), which is merging with Cannaworx Inc and SkinScience Labs Inc to become Availa Bio, announced Thursday that the combined company plans to dive into the hand sanitizer market in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The founders of Cannaworx, a privately-held cannabis products company, have secured US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) registration and a National Drug Code (NDC) number for the newly-developed sanitizer.
Availa will initially roll out 250ml and 500ml sizes, with 125ml, 1 liter and 1 gallon sizes to be available by the fall.
READ: Pressure BioSciences, rebranding to Availa Bio after mergers, taps former L'Oréal President Jim Morrison as CEO
The combined company will be led by former L'Oréal President Jim Morrison, whom Pressure Bio tapped earlier this month.
While at L'Oréal, Morrison oversaw growth that averaged more than 20% year-over-year. He also has a history of collaborating with celebrities to launch beauty and personal care lines, including Kylie Jenner, Britney Spears, Christie Brinkley and Rob Lowe.
In his new role, Morrison believes Availa’s hand sanitizer will help meet an urgent market need.
"Over the past few months, growing shortages of hand sanitizers have been reported in stores across the USA,” Morrison said in a statement. “In addition, the opportunity to bring leading scientists in skincare and in formulations technology together into an FDA-registered premium-grade dermatological hand sanitizer has been largely unanswered.
“In discussing these issues with the scientific and business teams of the three companies that are merging into Availa Bio, we saw the opportunity to fill a strong demand in the market with our proprietary dermatological formulation, to develop a high-quality registered hand sanitizer."
The combined Avaiia Bio business has an intellectual property estate of 31 issued and a dozen or more pending patents, as well as an existing global base of hundreds of corporate and thousands of retail customers.
The letters of intent between Cannaworx and SkinScience and between Pressure Bio and Cannaworx for the merger are subject to certain closing conditions, the company said.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel