Vancouver, BC / November 13, 2020, / BioHarvest Sciences Inc. (“BioHarvest” or the “Company”) (CSE: BHSC) BioHarvest announces the appointment of Nathaniel Averill as Vice-President of Manufacturing, Quality Assurance and Supply Chain. This appointment has been made to support the Company Growth Strategy recently outlined by CEO, Mr. Ilan Sobel, supporting the expansion of its manufacturing capabilities and distribution of VINIA® and its pipeline of nutraceutical products and future Cannabis products into North America and other prioritized geographies. Mr. Averill will be based in Boston and will report directly to Mr. Ilan Sobel, the CEO.
Nathaniel Averill has over 25 years of experience in biotech pharmaceutical manufacturing. His expertise includes design, startup, and management of biotech facilities with companies such as Abbott Bioresearch Center, MedImmune Inc., and Bristol-Myers Squib. He was instrumental in the development and production of a number of blockbuster drugs including HUMIRA® (Adalimumab) and ORENCIA® (abatacept). Nathaniel also has expertise in remediation of compliance risks to approval of Federal Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMEA), and other regulatory agencies.
When Massachusetts legalized medical marijuana in 2012, Nathaniel co-founded Healthy Pharms Inc. to produce medical marijuana under good manufacturing practice (GMPs) guidelines., which included a large cannabis growth facility, extraction operation, and dispensary., Nathaniel successfully sold Healthy Pharms Inc., to 4Front Advisors (a multi-state cannabis company) in 2016.
Mr. Averill will partner with Dr. Hagay (the CTO) and the key executives at Sugart Israel (BHSC’s local manufacturing partner) in the set up and development of new 20 Tons per annum manufacturing facility which will produce VINIA® according to required US GMP specifications by early Q3, 2021. Mr. Averill will lead the local QA team in ensuring that BHSC and its manufacturing partners continue to uphold the highest levels of Quality Assurance across the industry and will lead the Supply Chain side of the business to maximize efficiencies and economies of scale.
In Boston, Mr. Averill will also be responsible for setting up a facility for BHSC to provide a North American showcase of our unique BioFarming capabilities. After gaining all appropriate local state licenses, he will be responsible for the conversion of this facility to a fully operating cannabinoid producing facility in 2022 serving the Massachusetts state market.
“It is a unique privilege to welcome Nathaniel to our team. It is a strong vote of confidence in BHSC’s technology and prospects when an executive of such caliber joins the team” said Ilan Sobel, adding “his wealth of experience in the most demanding industries in terms of capacity and quality will help us execute on our growth strategy and achieve our core values of customer satisfaction and quality. His multi-disciplinary expertise in manufacturing, Quality Assurance, and supply chain will enhance our ability to leverage our Biofarming technology to most economically produce the highest quality, most consistent, Nutraceuticals and cannabinoids. The timing of Nathaniel’s arrival at BHSC could not be better as we see demand growing for our products in both B2B and B2C channels.”
About BioHarvest Sciences Inc.
Based in Vancouver BC, BioHarvest Sciences Inc. is the developer and exclusive owner of the proprietary and patent-protected BioFarming technology. It is the first and only industrial-scale plant cell technology capable of producing the active plant ingredients without the necessity to grow the plant itself. The Company’s technology is non-GMO and has already been validated by VINIA®, the red grapes cells functional food/dietary supplement produced and sold by BioHarvest Sciences Inc. The Company plans to generate significant revenue within the global nutraceutical ingredients and dietary supplements market with VINIA® and other Super Fruit Nutraceutical products. Further, by adapting this technology to the Cannabis plant, and building adequate production capacity, BioHarvest Sciences Inc.’s objective is to become a leading supplier of Cannabis for both medicinal and legal recreational purposes. Visit: www.bioharvest.com.
