Well-known Saskatoon medical marijuana pioneer resigns from CanniMed Therapeutics

A veteran pioneer of Canada's medical marijuana industry has resigned from his own company.

Brent Zettl stepped down from CanniMed Therapeutics on Monday. He was the company's CEO. A press release from the company said Zettl left to pursue other opportunities.

For months, Zettl fought off a hostile takeover bid launched by Aurora Cannabis. In March, the Vancouver-based company announced itssuccessfulbid forCanniMed for $1.1 billion in stocks and cash.

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"On behalf of the CanniMed board, I would like to express our gratitude to Brent for his leadership of CanniMed over the past three decades," said CFO and Director of CanniMed, John Knowles, in a media release.

"CanniMed is the pioneer in the Canadian medical cannabis industry and this is in no small part thanks to Brent and the huge contributions he has made to the development of the sector."

The takeover proceedings became fairly acrimonious at times. At one point, Aurora executive vice-president Cam Battley accused CanniMed of spreading misleading information and said that a letter from the company "reeks of desperation."

Zettl co-founded Prairie Plant Systems, which would eventually become CanniMed in 1988. In 2015, CanniMed led the first-ever Health Canada approved clinical trial of medical marijuana.

It was the sole supplier to Health Canada under the former medical marijuana system for 13 years.

Before the takeover, Zettl said his company employedmore than 200 peopleand expected to triple that number over the next several years.

Aurora SVP Andr Jrme has been appointed as interim CEO.