Company Announcements

Pilot Program Expands Access to Science-Backed CBD for Senior Cancer Patients through Healthcare Insurance Coverage

LOUISVILLE, Colo. , Dec. 18, 2025 /CNW/ - (TSX: CWEB) (OTCQB: CWBHF) Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc., the  pioneer and trusted market leader in hemp-derived CBD wellness, is proud to participate as a CBD provider supporting the treatment of senior oncology patients under the newly announced landmark pilot program by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). For the first time, seniors living with cancer will gain access to science-backed CBD products with reimbursement through Medicare and Medicaid, creating a new model of care that prioritizes personalization, accessibility, and affordability. Through CMMI, this initiative represents a transformative moment in senior healthcare policy, introducing long-awaited flexibility and optionality for patients and providers seeking therapeutic hemp products.

Charlotte's Web will offer a set of products to address oncology patient needs early in 2026 through a secure online healthcare portal. The platform combines eCommerce with advanced data security to protect patient and physician information and is a continuing expansion to the Company's established medical channel business. This initiative introduces long-awaited optionality, with room for future product expansion.

Learn more and register at: https://clinic.charlottesweb.com/

"Charlotte's Web is proud to participate in the CMMI program to bring trusted CBD options to underserved seniors battling cancer," said CEO Bill Morachnick. "Charlotte's Web was founded to help Charlotte Figi, whose medically challenging life became a CBD success story. Her journey inspired research, opened doors to access, and changed perceptions about the therapeutic benefits of CBD around the globe.  The Company made a promise to Charlotte, her mother Paige, and the millions who followed her: to set the standard for the entire industry by leading with quality, consistency, and science. As the CBD market leader and a trusted partner throughout the country among healthcare practitioners, this initiative marks a historic step forward, uniquely positioning Charlotte's Web to expand access to safe, non-intoxicating hemp CBD products through existing pathways. We thank the administration, CMMI, and all key stakeholders for their vision and persistence in making this possible."

Affordability is central to this initiative. There are 67 million Medicare beneficiaries nationwide, and nearly 20% of seniors use CBD for pain, arthritis, and other age-related conditions¹. This pilot program addresses a critical gap in senior supportive care by reducing out-of-pocket costs through Medicare reimbursement, making CBD more affordable for seniors and low-income Americans while lowering downstream healthcare expenses.  

Announced earlier this year, Charlotte's Web Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) will play a critical role in guiding its program, ensuring it reflects the Company's commitment to scientific rigor, clinical validation, and ethical responsibility. Comprised of interdisciplinary experts, the SAB advises on product integrity, patient and provider education, and long-term innovation strategies.

"Scientific rigor underpins every aspect of this program. With more than a decade of consumer use and extensive safety studies, Charlotte's Web integrates real-world evidence, patient-reported outcomes, and clinical insights into its R&D process to ensure products are safe and effective," said Dr. Marcel Bonn-Miller, Chief Scientific Officer at Charlotte's Web.

Realm of Caring, a leading 501(c)(3) nonprofit, provides support and research coordination for patients and healthcare providers for this program. Through this program, Realm of Caring will provide cannabinoid therapy guidance through evidence-based, cannabinoid education for individuals and their healthcare providers while capturing real-world data and lived experiences to inform program evolution and future research. Founded in 2013 with a legacy in research leadership, Realm of Caring has published multiple peer-reviewed studies validating CBD's effects for sleep, anxiety, depression, and quality of life, while reducing hospital visits.

Under the Medicare pilot framework, enrolled patients will be connected with Realm of Caring's support services as part of their program participation. This includes personalized consultations on product selection and dosing, ongoing communication with healthcare providers, and structured outcomes tracking, ensuring that participants receive comprehensive care coordination rather than product access alone. This integrated support model reflects the program's commitment to evidence-based, patient-centered CBD healthcare delivery.

"This initiative represents a blueprint for patient-centered CBD healthcare - one that advances alongside our medical channel expansion and deepening clinical research. The potential of the hemp plant is still being furthered, and studies like the Phase 2 FDA clinical trials investigating hemp-based therapies for autism spectrum disorder at our affiliated company, DeFloria, are critical to making its therapeutic promise even more accessible for health insurance-covered care. Our work through this program and our ongoing research demonstrate how rigorous science and compassionate care can converge to serve patients who need it most," stated Mr.Morachnick.

About Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc.
Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc., a Certified B Corporation headquartered in Louisville, Colorado, is a botanical wellness innovation company and market leader in hemp extract wellness. The Company's product categories include CBD oil tinctures (liquid products), CBD gummies (sleep, calming, exercise recovery), CBN gummies, CBG gummies, hemp-derived THC microdose gummies, functional mushroom gummies, CBD capsules, CBD topical creams and lotions, as well as CBD pet products for dogs. Through its substantially vertically integrated business model, Charlotte's Web maintains stringent control over product quality and consistency with analytic testing for quality assurance. Charlotte's Web products are distributed to retailers and healthcare practitioners throughout the U.S.A. and are available online through the Company's website atwww.charlottesweb.com.

Forward-Looking Information
Certain information provided herein constitutes forward-looking statements or information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as "may", "will", "should", "could", "anticipate", "expect", "project", "estimate", "forecast", "plan", "intend", "target", "believe" and similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and readers are cautioned against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

By their nature, these statements involve a variety of assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual results, levels of activity, and achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on certain assumptions and analysis by management of the Company in light of its experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future development and other factors that it believes are appropriate and reasonable.

The material factors and assumptions used to develop the forward-looking statements herein include, but are not limited to: expectations around hemp wellness distribution through a new inclusion in the Medicare and Medicaid flexible care model; regulatory regime changes; anticipated product development and sales; the success of sales and marketing activities; product development and production expectations; outcomes from R&D activities; the Company's ability to deal with adverse growing conditions in a timely and cost-effective manner; the availability of qualified and cost-effective human resources; compliance with contractual and regulatory obligations and requirements; availability of adequate liquidity and capital to support operations and business plans; and expectations around consumer product demand. In addition, the forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties pertaining to, among other things: supply and distribution chains; the market for the Company's products; revenue fluctuations; regulatory changes; loss of customers and retail partners; retention and availability of talent; competing products; share price volatility; loss of proprietary information; product acceptance; internet and system infrastructure functionality; information technology security; available capital to fund operations and business plans; crop risk; economic and political considerations; and including but not limited to those risks and uncertainties discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2024, and other risk factors contained in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission available on http://www.sec.gov  and filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities available at www.sedarplus.ca . The impact of any one risk, uncertainty, or factor on a particular forward-looking statement is not determinable with certainty, as these are interdependent, and the Company's future course of action depends on management's assessment of all information available at the relevant time.

Any forward-looking statement in this press release is based only on information currently available to the Company and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by applicable law, the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. All forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, attributable to the Company or persons acting on the Company's behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.

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SOURCE Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc.