This Pharma Billionaire Is Developing A Cannabis Painkiller To Replace Dangerous Opioids

Forbes

Clemens Fischer has never smoked pot in his life, but he believes his new experimental drug could reap billions in sales—and change millions of lives.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2025/09/12/this-pharma-billionaire-is-developing-a-cannabis-painkiller-to-replace-dangerous-opioids/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, this pharma billionaire is developing a cannabis painkiller to replace

00:06dangerous opioids. There is nothing sexy about the next big thing in weed. Vertanical, the

00:13Munich-based pharmaceutical company, is developing a cannabinoid-based extract to treat chronic pain

00:20it hopes will soon become an approved medicine, first in the European Union and eventually in

00:25the United States. The drug, currently called Ver-01, is not for stoners. Each dose is low

00:32enough to avoid getting most patients high, the company says, but it packs enough low levels of

00:37cannabinoids, including THC, to relieve pain. And if it is approved, it won't be found at a cannabis

00:44dispensary either. Instead, Clemens Fisher, the 50-year-old medical doctor who is the founder of

00:51Vertanical, hopes it will become the first cannabis-based painkiller prescribed by physicians

00:56and covered by insurance. Fisher, who stopped practicing medicine decades ago to get an MBA

01:03from Harvard, says, quote, I usually end up with the boring things no one wants to do.

01:09A serial pharmaceutical and supplement entrepreneur, Fisher, who was born in Weilheim, Germany, runs a

01:16mini-empire through the Futru Group, a Munich-based holding company with a collection of about 20 drug

01:21and R&D companies. Over the last two decades, he has built and sold a series of companies in the

01:27over-the-counter drug and supplement space, ranging from sleep aids to treatments for irritable bowel

01:32syndrome, amassing a $1 billion fortune. Although Ver-01 is cannabis-based, Fisher has no interest in

01:41selling marijuana, which he says is a, quote, shiny object to be avoided. The $32 billion in 2024 sales

01:49cannabis industry in the U.S., which spans 40 states, is plagued with banking and financial

01:54challenges due to pot still being illegal at the federal level. The industry is still waiting,

02:00rather impatiently, for President Donald Trump to announce his decision whether to reschedule marijuana

02:06from its current status as a Schedule I drug alongside heroin and LSD to a less restrictive

02:12category. None of that matters for Fisher. He prefers the boring, arduous, and expensive path

02:18of getting a new drug approved by the European Medicines Agency and, hopefully, eventually the

02:24U.S. Food and Drug Administration. So far, Fisher has invested more than $250 million of his own money

02:31in Vertanical, which he founded in 2017 with his business partner, Madlena Hohlefelder.

02:38With a cannabis cultivation site and pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Denmark, Vertanical has

02:43successfully passed Phase 3, the last clinical trial hurdle, in Germany and is currently awaiting

02:49marketing approval. So far, the data from the clinical trials is promising. Ver-01 was found to be more

02:56effective than opioid painkillers with fewer side effects, including no evidence for addiction.

03:02The company is expecting a decision from the German and Austrian authorities later this year or early

03:07next year, which would allow the company to start selling its medicine. Vertanical will then apply for

03:13broader authorization across the EU. It hopes to launch Phase 3 trials in the U.S. in 2026.

03:19The quest for non-opioid pain relievers is hot. After pharmaceutical drugs such as OxyContin fueled the

03:34opioid epidemic in the U.S., medical professionals have been searching for a better option, an effective

03:40pain reliever without the risks of addiction or overdose. Jernovex, a non-opioid drug that dampens the pain

03:47signals sent to the brain, was approved by the FDA for acute pain in January 2025. Vertex, the drug's

03:54manufacturer, reported $13 million in sales for the first six months on the market. Yet with 125

04:01million opioid prescriptions written in the U.S. in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control

04:07and Prevention, a market worth about $20 billion in annual sales, according to Precedence Research,

04:13there is a lot of opportunity for alternatives. And as opioid overdoses claim the lives of more than

04:1980,000 people in the U.S. last year, it is an urgent problem that needs solutions. Earlier this month, the

04:26FDA announced its plan to accelerate the approval of non-opioid drugs for chronic pain. Fisher hopes that

04:33Vertanical can bring its cannabis-based drug to market, replace a portion of those opioid sales, and cash in on the

04:40multi-billion-dollar chronic pain sector. For full coverage, check out Will Yakowitz's piece

04:46on Forbes.com. This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes. Thanks for tuning in.

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