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Tilray Inc sees $10-billion in market cap go up in smoke

Tilray’s share price closed at $123 US on Friday, a decline from its intraday peak of nearly $300 US earlier in the week
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What a bummer, man.

Nanaimo cannabis producer Tilray Inc. saw $10 billion US in market cap go up in smoke this week in one of the wildest stock market rides ever.

Tilray’s share price closed at $123 US on Friday, a decline of 30 per cent on the day, and a fall of nearly 59 per cent from its intraday peak of nearly $300 US earlier in the week.

Despite the massive decline, Tilray — one of three Canadian cannabis companies with a U.S. stock listing — is still valued at nearly $11.46 billion US. Its market cap on Wednesday reached $20.28 billion US, making it the largest cannabis company in the world. By Thursday morning, its market cap gained nearly $1 billion more, registering at an incredible $21.24 billion.

READ MORE: Tilray Inc. briefly the world’s largest cannabis company

The surge in value was propelled in part by an announcement on Tuesday that Tilray had received approval to export a medical cannabis product to the U.S. for use in a clinical trial.

The high means that the Nanaimo firm is now the largest cannabis company in the world

Tilray and a researcher at the University of California San Diego believe this is the first export of a cannabis product from a Canadian company to the U.S., where marijuana is still illegal at the federal level.

READ MORE: Tilray to export cannabis formulation to U.S. for clinical trial

Tiray will be exporting capsules containing a formulation with two active ingredients extracted from the cannabis plant for a clinical trial examining the drug as a potential treatment for adults with essential tremor, a neurological disorder.

The formulation will contain cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol, better known as CBD and THC, and will be used in a trial scheduled to begin in early 2019.

UC San Diego’s Dr. Fatta Nahab said he believes this product has not been imported from Canada into the U.S. before.

While several states have legalized cannabis for medical or recreational use, marijuana remains illegal under U.S. federal law.

Tilray trades as TLRY on the Nasdaq.

— With files from the Canadian Press

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