Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies Holdings appears to be in administration. It is one of only a few UK pharmaceutical cannabis companies left.
Octavian, a trading company owned by OCTH and its holding, was always reliant upon investment for its clinical trial progress.
Although there haven’t been any official statements from Rushtons Insolvency Limited (the company) or their administrators, Rushtons Insolvency Limited Limited, many public filings confirm that they were appointed.
Their promising pipeline of drug development, along with valuable intellectual property, for other biotech operators is likely to be up for sale.
Its collapse is reflective of a wider crisis in the global biotech sector, particularly in the US where OCT saw its future, seeing widespread job cuts, a significant slowdown of M&A activity, and public investment opportunities all but grind to a halt.
What is happening?
The Gazette (the UK’s official record of insolvency procedures) published a notice on Friday, May 9, 2025 that OCTH appointed administrators.
According to the filing Nicola Baker from Rushtons Insolvency Limited has been appointed the administrator of the company on 02 May.
MEDCAN24 We have contacted OCT and its administrators but, as of this date, we still do not receive a response.
A filing by the AIM listed Dillistone Group Plc, where OCT non-executive Director and former Chair Julie Pomeroy also serves as a director confirmed that administration.
AIM Rules, Schedule 2, paragraph (G), requires listed companies to disclose any directorships held by directors in other companies.
Dillistone informed Pomeroy that OCTH would be placed under administration by May 2, 2025.
OCTH was also re-addressed to its administrator’s on May 8, according to Companies House. This change of address has been authenticated by Baker.
What next for OCT’s Intellectual Property
OCT, as a startup company that is not yet expected to generate revenue, will be unable to commercialise the leading drug programme before 2028. The value of OCT lies in almost its entire intellectual property.
However, the value you assign to these assets will depend on whomever you speak with.
According to the latest available OCT company financials, OCT’s OCT461201 clinical asset is protected by several patents on different markets as of July 30 2024.
OCT461201, a small small-molecule new chemical entity (NCE) CB2 agonist, being developed for diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), was scheduled to begin Phase II clinical trials this year.
By July 30, 2024 eight patents for the asset had already been granted, spanning US, Canada China Brazil Israel Korea Mexico New Zealand and Korea. Another six follow-up requests have also been filed.
OCT believes that CIPN and IBS combined represent a commercial opportunity worth more than US$5.8bn between 2030
In February 2024, OCT received a reiterated valuation of £25.3m from leading independent research firm Edison, placing its value at over 5x its market cap at the time.
Edison’s valuation was ‘100% ascribed’ to OCT’s leading compound, which Edison expects to launch in 2030. However, it noted that its second compound has significant ‘potential upside’ and plans to incorporate this into its valuation ‘once it enters the clinic’.
According to the latest available data, patents have been filed for its second compound, OCT130401, a phytocannabinoid-based inhalation therapy targeting Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN), but have not yet been granted.
Licenses and Intellectual Property
OCT first announced in 2021 that it had entered into an exclusive global licensing agreement Canopy Growth Corporation.
OCT now has exclusive rights to the entire library of pharmaceutical cannabinoid-derived derivatives, which includes 335 derivatives, intellectual property, and research data.
OCT created new compounds in 2023 and now the library contains close to 500 exclusive compounds. Furthermore, according to its website, OCT has developed ‘a proprietary library of approximately 2,000 compounds’
This vast amount of untapped value could be worth a lot to a business with enough funding and resources.
MEDCAN24 It has been brought to our attention that the administrative process is still in its early stages and discussions are ongoing about the future of the licence as well as the assets associated with it.
OCT announced last year that it had received four patents for the IP. Discussions were in progress with Canopy about further patent applications which both companies would own.
In 2023, OCT announced that it was moving into oncology having identified a potential ‘first in class’ immunotherapy agent for the treatment of solid tumours, based on an asset which arose from this extensive library.
It was aimed at a market for therapies that target solid tumors. The company estimated the value of this market to be $532bn US by 2032. OCT halted this program soon due to financial issues. It now focuses on the lead compound.
A major blow to the economy
The failure of OCT is a major blow to the UK’s Biotech and Pharmaceutical Cannabis sectors, which are both severely underfunded.
Clarissa Sowemimo Coker, the company’s new leader after its listing at the London Stock Exchange 2021 appeared to make significant progress.
Even though the firm had made progress in clinical trials and met its targets for development, it still struggled to obtain funding due to the deteriorating financial climate.
Sowemimi Coker has told that in May 2024, Sowemimi will tell the truth. MEDCAN24 that its decision to exit the public market reflected the wider struggles of biotech and small-cap companies in accessing capital, and the company believed a ‘far larger pool of capital’ would be available from private investors.
Having launched a new major fundraising initiative in March 2025, targeting a £10M raise, the growing caution of investment in the biotech space, thanks largely to uncertainties surrounding the new Trump administration, is likely to have thwarted these efforts.
According to Reuters, the cuts made across US federal health agencies aggravated fears in biotech, which was already suffering a prolonged decline, about getting approved products.
It said that “mass firings by the US Food and Drug Administration pose a risk to small and mid-cap companies with innovative products in clinical trials, but without any product on the market,” which would keep them afloat.
This has led to a dramatic drop in investments. Biotech firms raised only $4.2bn in this fiscal year compared to the $11.1bn they had in the previous year’s same-period period, according to LSEG.