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Nick Pateras
CEO with experience scaling startups and business turnarounds | ex-Johnson & Johnson
Nick Pateras is the CEO of Lyphe Group, a medical cannabis leader in the UK and Australia.1 He is a results-oriented leader with a track record of crafting and executing business strategies.1 Nick has experience scaling start-ups and business turnarounds.2 He adopts a customer-first mentality and knows how to propel growth by building high-performance teams, capitalizing on market insights, and applying disciplined P&L management.1
Prior to his role at Lyphe, Nick held positions at Materia, Lift & Co., and Johnson & Johnson.1 His experience includes leading European operations, managing strategy, overseeing key strategic initiatives, and managing product marketing.1
Nick was born in London, England, and raised in Athens, Greece.1 He pursued higher education at Queen's University in Canada, earning a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy.1 He is fluent in Greek and functional in French.1
Experience::
- Chief Executive Officer at Lyphe Group (March 2023 – Present)1
- Interim CEO at Materia (April 2022 – April 2023)1
- Managing Director at Materia (July 2019 – April 2022)1
- Vice President, Strategy at Lift & Co. (October 2018 – July 2019)1
- Vice President of Growth at Lift & Co. (September 2017 – October 2018)1
- Director of Product Marketing at Lift & Co. (March 2017 – September 2017)1
- Course Instructor, Cannabis Business Fundamentals at George Brown College (August 2018 – July 2019)1
- Member, Cannabis Working Group at Ontario Chamber of Commerce (February 2019 – June 2019)1
- Brand Management at Johnson & Johnson (May 2012 – February 2017)1
Education::
Honors & Awards::
- D. I. McLeod Dean's List Scholarship1
- CIS Academic All-Canadian1
- First Runner-Up, Canada's Next Top Ad Exec (March 2013)1
- Silver - Digital Engagement of the Year, Canadian Marketing Association (2016)1
Nick Pateras' LinkedIn username is "nickpateras".1
Highlights
🇬🇧 🌳: The recent Care Quality Commission report stated, "the number of unlicensed CBPMs prescribed each year continues to increase by at least 100% annually".
In June 2023 that was 18,394 items so extrapolation suggests over 36,000 monthly items now. Note this is items, not prescriptions.
Conservatively assuming 2 items/prescription but also adjusting for an average repeat purchase rate of more than 30 days, it definitely doesn't seem like the active patient count is as large as many people seem to claim...
🍀🗣️ I'm a huge proponent of patients' right to grow their own medicine, but I urge caution in referring policymakers to other countries where it's permitted.
In Canada, often regarded as a bellwether, the home grow program has been a mixed success since launching in its initial form, the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations ("MMAR"), in July 2001.
Since day 1 the program has been accused - sometimes unfairly or on little evidence - of being a source of black market supply. That is, that the cannabis cultivated for medical purposes under the personal/designated production licences is not entirely being used for its authorized purpose.
Health Canada's data underscores this concern. Whereas the average amount of flower prescribed for patients registered with producers is 2.4g/day, for 'home grow' licences the average is 33g/day .
I've been involved in medical cannabis for almost 8 years, across Canada, Europe and the UK and I've met many patients whose conditions are so severe that they often have to medicate with double digit grams each day. From cluster headaches to C-PTSD, there are many legitimate reasons for a significant daily dose. And one would expect personal/designated production licences to be authorized for higher amounts than prescriptions with producers: the more medicine is necessary, the more cost becomes a factor.
But for the average to be 33g/day, and for this to be 13x more than the average prescription with commercial producers, makes me hesitate to cite Canada as a gold standard.
Even more so since British Columbia, a hotbed of cannabis culture, has an average authorized amount of almost 60g/day. That equates to 1.8kg of cannabis consumed in a month. Almost unfathomable.
Many aspects of Canada's program are meritorious and it offers patients greater access and flexibility. This is why the concept makes sense. But the execution is also important and I worry that any lawmaker this side of the Atlantic will see the risk of black market diversion as too great a political risk to swallow. Canada's home grow quantities do not help.
