The CBD-based health and wellness space is one of the world’s fastest-growing sectors. Recent reports indicate that global hemp-based CBD sales are projected to reach $22 billion by 2022, with a CAGR of 147%, showcasing the enormous growth the industry is set to experience in the next several years.

One major event that ushered in this burgeoning growth was the passing of the Agriculture Improvement Act in the United States. This legislation legalized hemp and hemp-based products for medical use and subsequently created a significant opportunity for the production and sale of CBD-based health products, dramatically globalizing CBD’s reach within the alternative medicine landscape.

CBD’s growing adoption has touched many lives and has even been approved by the American Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of seizures associated with two rare forms of epilepsy: Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome.

Building an integrated health and wellness brand

Benefitting from this growth while improving the lives of their patients is Empower Clinics Inc (CSE: CBDT), a vertically integrated life sciences company, that operates a network of patient-centric, physician-staffed medical cannabis and pain management clinics across the United States.

“The work that we do on behalf of patients is ultimately about improving the quality of life for each patient that comes through our doors.”

— Steven McAuley, Chairman & CEO, Empower Clinics Inc.

An exciting recent development for the company was the closing of the Sun Valley Clinics acquisition on May 2nd, 2019. Sun Valley operates a network of practices in Arizona and Las Vegas, a telemedicine platform serving California, and boasts a fully developed franchise business model for domestic and international markets.

On the back of this acquisition and other measures, Empower is well on its way to becoming the global health and wellness brand it strives to embody. The company has effectively diversified its revenue streams to incorporate a full retail product strategy that includes a proprietary line of hemp-derived CBD products under the Sollievo and Sun Valley brands.

The new Empower is seeing consistent progress

The company’s 2019 Q1 results were announced on June 4, illustrating the impact of shrewd cost-cutting measures and restructuring that their new Chairman and CEO implemented, to stabilize operations and prepare for growth initiatives in 2019 and beyond.

“We will start seeing the benefits of our Sun Valley acquisition as we publish our second-quarter results. The first quarter only reflects the old Empower in the Pacific Northwest – Oregon State and Washington State. The new Empower is already so much more than that,” notes McAuley, Chairman and CEO of Empower Clinics.

Empower’s homegrown Sollievo line of CBD-based therapies has also launched its first lotion, and the company has delivered its inaugural run of CBD tinctures to clinics in Arizona and Oregon. The company’s efforts are promising for investors interested in the cannabis and wellness space, as Empower continues to revamp and diversify its product offerings.

Additionally, the company has taken possession of its first extraction facility near Portland, Oregon, close to over 200 licenced hemp farms that can provide large scale and efficient access to hemp bio-mass. This is significant for enhancing production of the company’s scientifically formulated CBD-based therapies plus providing strong revenue and cash flow growth for the company.

Direct access to patient data

What’s most critical to Empower’s positive outlook is the company’s wide-reaching network. The company’s medical clinics in Washington State, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada have treated over 120,000 patients. Through the acquisition of Sun Valley Clinics, Empower added another 45,000 patients to that growing list. The company is in a unique position to harness crucial patient data from a wide range of primary sources, allowing it to gain deeper insights into what product options and treatment plans are most effective for specific conditions.

In a nutshell, each patient’s personal experience and requirements directly influence the treatment options they are prescribed by Empower’s physicians. By gathering and analyzing this data from hundreds of thousands of patients over time, Empower has garnered the ability to astutely pinpoint treatment options for a range of qualifying conditions and individual needs.

"The work that we do on behalf of patients is ultimately about improving the quality of life for each patient that comes through our doors,” said McAuley. “This can occur through a physician consultation or by offering high-quality CBD-based products or through the hard science behind our CBD extraction technology and the world-class product formulations we develop.”

Empower’s Sollievo brand

As noted, Empower has also launched its high-quality CBD formulations and treatments; one of its early pilot products, a CBD-based lotion called Sollievo, is already on clinic shelves.

The company has also launched four of its seven CBD tinctures that are meant to target a variety of ailments. Product lines are available through Empower’s clinics, an e-commerce platform, home delivery and future reseller partnerships.

Moreover, the company has commenced building retail product kiosks in its clinics and will follow the same retail approach in all franchised clinics across the United States.

Growth for the road ahead

To expand its offering to both patients and investors, Empower Clinics has changed its ticker symbol on the Canadian Securities Exchange from EPW to CBDT. It intends to seek shareholder approval to change the company’s name and has launched a new company website emulating a stronger brand identity as a global health and wellness company.

Empower believes the name change will embody a simple and clear representation of the company’s focus – one that embodies a commitment to patient wellbeing, supported by science-based CBD therapies and innovative treatment options.

Most recently, Empower has initiated the launch of its U.S. national franchise program, highlighted by the signing of its first franchise application for a Sun Valley Health territory. This marks another key milestone as the company cements itself at the forefront of the alternative healthcare space. Additionally, Empower is embarking on an extensive franchise-focused tour, with nine conferences and expos on their calendar over the next ten months.

With this in mind, there is a lot to look forward to as research delves into more complex applications that address the efficacy of CBD-based treatment options and the impact they could have on health and wellbeing. Investors should look forward to Empower’s changes over the course of the year, and as it connects to consumers domestically and in international markets.