Snoop Dogg-backed medical marijuana company seeks Big Pharma funding

Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimates the European legal cannabis market could be worth around $60 billion a year by 2026

The U.K. medical marijuana company backed by Snoop Dogg’s venture firm is targeting Big Pharma in its latest fundraising round and said drugmakers getting involved in cannabis would help validate the burgeoning European industry.

Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies Ltd. is working on breaking cannabis extractions down to their constituent parts then investigating potential uses in immunology, oncology, neurology and pain relief, OCT Chairman Neil Mahapatra said. The firm is seeking about $50 million, which should be enough to finance its work until about 2024, he said. For now, no public stock offering is planned until around that time, although a listing could