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Nanaimo’s Tilray Inc. briefly the world’s largest cannabis company

The company, only listed in the US, nearly reached $300 in afternoon trading on Wednesday
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Trading in shares of Nanaimo-based Tilray Inc. was stopped numerous times on Wednesday due to volatility that saw the cannabis producer’s intraday share price rise to $297.70 US — a gain of nearly 100 per cent before falling in value as the trading day ended.

Tilray on Wednesday plunged to as low at $151.50 US, before climbing again to close at $214.06 US at 4 p.m. EDT.

Tilray has seen its shares soar more than 850 per cent since it started publicly trading in July.

Tilray shares surged 28.95% on Tuesday and a further 38.12% on Wednesday after it was reported that the company is the first to receive permission to legally export marijuana to the US as part of a clinical trial at the University of California at San Diego.

RELATED: Tilray to export cannabis to U.S. for clinical trials

Its market cap on Wednesday reached $20.28 billion US, making it the largest cannabis company in the world.

Tilray and a researcher at the University of California San Diego believe this is the first export of a cannabis product from a Canadian company to the U.S., where marijuana is still illegal at the federal level.

Tiray will be exporting capsules containing a formulation with two active ingredients extracted from the cannabis plant for a clinical trial examining the drug as a potential treatment for adults with essential tremor, a neurological disorder.

The formulation will contain cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol, better known as CBD and THC, and will be used in a trial scheduled to begin in early 2019.

UC San Diego’s Dr. Fatta Nahab said he believes this product has not been imported from Canada into the U.S. before.

While several states have legalized cannabis for medical or recreational use, marijuana remains illegal under U.S. federal law.

Tilray trades as TLRY on the Nasdaq.

- With files from the Canadian Press

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