CannTrust Receives Notice from Health Canada of License Reinstatement for its Fenwick Facility

VAUGHAN, ON, May 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - CannTrust Holdings Inc. ("CannTrust" or the "Company") announced that it has received notice from Health Canada that the Company's licenses for its Fenwick Perpetual Harvest Facility (the "Fenwick facility") have been reinstated.

CannTrust has been working in collaboration with Health Canada for many months to identify and address the Company's regulatory deficiencies.  On February 14, 2020, the Company announced that it had completed its remediation activities at the Fenwick facility, and that documentation in support of license reinstatement had been submitted to Health Canada.

CannTrust will immediately recommence operations at the Fenwick facility, which is located in the Niagara region. At this time, the Company cannot provide an exact timeframe for when its products will be available in the market, which is dependent upon receiving a response from Health Canada to CannTrust's licence reinstatement submission with respect to its Vaughan manufacturing facility, which was submitted to Health Canada more recently, on April 24, 2020. The decision to reinstate the Company's licenses at its Vaughan facility is both independent of the Fenwick facility's licence reinstatement and at the discretion of Health Canada.

As previously announced, CannTrust is currently under CCAA protection to facilitate the Company's efforts to resolve its civil litigation exposures and complete its review of strategic alternatives.  Those efforts are ongoing, and the Company is unable to predict either their timing or their outcome. In the meantime, CannTrust remains without meaningful revenues and has terminated or laid-off a significant portion of its workforce. The Company plans to begin operations following today's announcement as an important first step towards rebuilding stakeholder trust and delivering high-quality, innovative products to its patients and customers.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian Securities laws and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other applicable United States safe harbor laws, and such statements are based upon CannTrust's current internal expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and beliefs and views of future events. Forward-looking information and forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes", "expect", "likely", "may", "will", "should", "intend", "anticipate", "potential", "proposed", "estimate" and other similar words, including negative and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions "may", "would" or "will" happen, or by discussions of strategy.

The forward-looking information and statements in this news release include statements relating to the corrective actions being taken by the Company, and Health Canada's pending determinations. Forward-looking information and statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation: actions taken in respect of the Company's products by its customers and regulators; results of Health Canada's investigation, including orders and compliance measures required by Health Canada and their impact on the operations, inventory, assets and financial condition of the Company; the Company's implementation of remediation plans and related actions; regulatory approval; the outcome of the Company's contingent liabilities; the impact of potential regulatory investigations; the Company's review of strategic alternatives; risks associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; loss of markets; future legislative and regulatory developments in Canada, the United States and elsewhere; the cannabis industry in Canada generally; and, the ability of CannTrust to implement its business strategies.

Any forward-looking information and statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and, except as required by law, CannTrust does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for CannTrust to predict all such factors. When considering these forward-looking information and statements, readers should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements in CannTrust's Annual Information Form dated March 28, 2019 (the "AIF") and filed with the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and filed as an exhibit CannTrust's Form 40-F annual report under the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on EDGAR at www.sec.gov (the "March 2019 Form 40-F"). The risk factors and other factors noted in the AIF could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking information or statements. Readers are also reminded that CannTrust remains in default of its periodic disclosure requirements under applicable securities laws and stock exchange requirements, that its most recent AIF, Form 40-F and other disclosures do not reflect all risk factors that currently face the Company, and that the Company has not completed or filed the restatements of the financial statements included in the AIF or the March 2019 Form 40-F or otherwise filed an amendment to such Form 40-F, and that the Company has determined not to correct its prior filings or make any further filings in respect of periodic disclosure requirements under applicable securities laws and stock exchange requirements. None of the Company's securities is listed for trading on any stock exchange in any jurisdiction and, in Canada, trading in the Company's securities is subject to a cease-trade order issued on April 13, 2020 by the Ontario Securities Commission for CannTrust's failure to comply with its disclosure obligations under applicable securities laws.

SOURCE CannTrust Holdings Inc.

Related Links

https://www.canntrust.ca/