earlier in march pressure biosciences inc pbio “pbi” announced that its largest shareholder has converted 10 million of secured debt into unsecured preferred stock the move is an important signal of confidence in pbi’s growth potential and support for the company’s plans for expansion this year the company has made steady and impressive progress in the commercialization of its proprietary ultra shear™ technology a pressurebased based platform that can create shelfstable nanoemulsions for use across dozens of industries including pharmaceuticals food and beverage cosmetics skincare supplements nutraceuticals and agrochemicals here’s a closer look at what the debttoequity conversion means for pbi’s financial health and some of the recent milestones that have contributed to that growing investor confidence the news is a major boost to pbi’s balance sheet as the 10 million represents over half of the total debt owed to that investor and more than 30 of the company’s total outstanding debt through february of this year the exchange of convertible promissory notes accrued and unpaid interest and accrued and unpaid dividends into shares of common stock puts pbi in a stronger position to raise capital and continue expanding production capacity above all the conversion is a key signal of growing investor confidence as the deal was consummated at a value of 250 per share which is about 38 higher than the stock’s current open market price shares of pbi have been rallying since january achieving more than 41 growth yeartodate as of march 6 pbi president and ceo richard t schumacher anticipates other investors will soon convert debt into equity as well and said “we are in discussions with other large shareholders who have expressed similar interest in supporting the company through continuing improvements in our balance sheet by exchanging additional millions of dollars of debt into equity following the confidence and leadership demonstrated by the company’s longstanding largest investor” with the company’s largest shareholder exchanging debt for equity and other major shareholders expected to do the same in the coming weeks it’s a good indicator that investors expect this stock to maintain that momentum that bullish sentiment is largely driven by a series of recent milestones pbi has achieved over the past few months as the company works to transition into profitability and uplist to nasdaqnyse among those achievements is the december announcement of a partnership with dr adrienne denese the founder and president of dr denese skinscience through the partnership the renowned skincare expert who has sold more than 500 million of her skincare products on qvc will initially collaborate with pbi to develop topical nanoemulsions of a retinol serum and a vitamin c serum both of which are potent active ingredients in some of the leading antiaging products on the market pbi’s ultra shear technology will be used to break down these oilbased compounds into a potent nanoemulsion with the goal of making them more readily absorbed into the skin currently in clinical trials commercial sales are expected to begin by the second quarter of this year in january pbi announced another key partnership with one world products inc owpo headed by nba legend isiah thomas one world products is colombia’s largest blackcontrolled fully licensed cannabis producer the two companies are collaborating on a line of nextgeneration sports drinks infused with cannabidiol cbd oil in addition to its calming effects research has shown that cbd oil may be able to reduce inflammation relieve pain and speed up muscle recovery – all of which make it an ideal ingredient for a postworkout recovery drink but the oilbased compound is poorly absorbed in the digestive system meaning that as little as 6 of the cbd oil in current infused products actually makes it into the bloodstream pbi’s nanoemulsion technology has the potential to dramatically improve absorption rates by breaking the oil molecules down into droplets so small that they are effectively watersoluble so the partnership will see one world product’s premium cbd oil processed into a nanoemulsion to make a potent cbdinfused sports drink for both athletes and healthconscious consumers that same month pbi released the initial results from consumer focus group testing of a thc nanoemulsion oral spray that was made using the company’s groundbreaking ultra shear technology like cbd thc is an oilbased compound with poor absorption rates which makes precise dosing of edibles and other cannabis products difficult where edibles can take up to an hour for consumers to begin feeling the effects the focus group reported the first effects from the oral spray in under 10 minutes that immediate effect can prevent consumers from accidentally taking strongerthannecessary doses under the mistaken assumption that the edible isn’t working in addition to being fasteracting the easytouse oral spray is also intended as a safer alternative to vaping or smoking – the current consumption method of choice for those looking for a more immediate effect than edibles with marketing set to begin this quarter in california the novel thc oral spray could start generating substantial revenue for pbi soon this post contains sponsored advertising content this content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice