Empower Clinics is diversifying its business lines to keep North Americans physically and mentally healthy

• Empower is one of the largest operators of physician-staffed, medical cannabis-focused health care in the US
• Proprietary line of CBD products formulated by scientists and field experts
• Expanding into psilocybin and psychedelics research and patient treatment options
• Coronavirus antibody testing program using RAPID COVID-19 test kits to be rolled out nationally

What Empower Clinics does:

Empower Clinics Inc (OTCMKTS:EPWCF) (CSE:CBDT) is a diversified wellness company that is dedicated to keeping people healthy on several fronts.

The Vancouver-based company owns a network of physician-staffed health clinics in Oregon and Arizona that serve more than 165,000 patients and provides tele-medicine options in Arizona, Oregon, Washington State, Nevada and California.

Its franchise model allows for easy and fast scalability, increasing the distribution of its CBD-based product, Sollievo (which means ‘relief’ in Italian). Sollievo’s offerings include CBD lotion, tinctures, spectrum oils, capsules, lozenges, patches, topical lotions, gel caps, e-drinks, hemp extract drops and pet elixir hemp extract drops.

Thanks to a massive influx of millions of new consumers and the entrance of large retailers, the CBD market is estimated to grow to a $23.7 billion industry through 2023, data from Brightfield Group indicates.

Empower also supports remote patients using its telemedicine portal, enabling patients who do not live near one of its clinics and can’t get to a location, to still benefit from a doctor consultation.

The firm has also signed a deal to acquire Dosed Wellness Ltd and a new dedicated website that leverages the operating assets of Empower. Dosed Wellness is uniquely positioned as an early mover in the psychedelics space with a network of physicians and clinics, advanced research opportunities, tele-medicine capabilities, and a growing base of over 165,000 patients.

If that’s not enough, the company is jumping into the fight against the devastating coronavirus pandemic to become a front-line player in the testing space.

How is it doing:

To start the month of September, Empower announced a deal to acquire Texas-based Kai Medical Laboratory LLC to help the company advance coronavirus (COVID-19) testing capabilities.

Kai has taken an active role in COVID-19 testing, battling the pandemic through RT-PCR testing and serology testing. While the RT-PCR test identifies if a patient has an active virus, the serology or antibody test detects if a patient has previously been exposed to the virus. Both of these test results are vital to managing outbreaks and the potential spread of coronavirus.

Currently, Kai has the capacity to complete in excess of 2,000 RT-PCR tests in one eight-hour shift by utilizing its Thermo Fisher QuantStudio 12k Flex testing machine. The lab also utilizes a Roche Cobas 6000 for COVID-19 antibody testing.

The proposed acquisition includes an 8,000-square-foot medical lab including covered drive-up testing center, with lab equipment, cash and current assets worth more than $1,750,000 and a corporate office in the heart of the medical district in Dallas.

The firm recently began COVID-19 RT-PCR testing through its Sun Valley Health operations in Arizona. The RT-PCR test kits and laboratory tests are being processed by Kai Medical Laboratory.

Meanwhile, the firm’s second-quarter financial results for the three-month period ended June 30, 2020, revealed revenue growth of 56% on the back of record patient growth at the company’s Sun Valley Health subsidiary.

The group clocked up revenue of $923,876, driven by 6,696 patient visits, compared to revenue of $591,023 based on 1,198 patient visits in the first quarter of 2019. Empower also boosted its cash position at the end of June 2020, to $305,935, compared to $179,152 on December 31, 2019.

Inflection points:

• US nationwide roll-out of COVID-19 antibody testing offering all phases of the company services to start in the third quarter of this year
• Launch of Dosed Wellness and opening a physical presence in Vancouver, including telemedicine capabilities
• Future acquisitions in the wellness, CBD and psychedelics space

What the boss says:

“Launching our RT-PCR testing programs utilizing the capability of Kai Medical Labs gives us the ability to access massive testing volume not only in Arizona, but nationwide in the US,” Empower CEO Steven McAuley has said.

“Our team at Sun Valley Health has created numerous strategic marketing campaigns to drive awareness and testing volume, leveraging our supply chain improvements with increased profit margins.”

Contact Angela at [email protected]

Follow her on Twitter @AHarmantas

Story by ProactiveInvestors