Here’s their press release verbatim.
CB Therapeutics: Producing Rare Cannabinoid & Psychedelic Molecules at Scale
The cannabis industry has evolved from the legalization of dried cannabis to an increasingly detailed understanding of individual cannabinoids. While THC and CBD are the two most common, researchers are increasingly interested in CBC, THCV and other rare cannabinoids that could have specific and desirable effects on certain medical indications.
The problem is that these cannabinoids can’t be efficiently produced at scale since they are contained in such small quantities in the plant. These scalability issues are mirrored in the psychedelics industry where plants like mescaline take a decade or more to reach maturity, making it challenging to produce enough to meet growing demand.
Let’s take a look at two key issues facing the cannabis and psychedelics industry, why biosynthesis could provide a solution and how CB Therapeutics Inc. plans to provide a solution.
Lack of Scalability
Mescaline has been used for centuries by Mexican Indians and Native Americans in the Southwest for certain religious ceremonies and rituals. With the decriminalization of psychedelics in several U.S. cities, demand for the cacti has soared and overharvesting has become a problem since the plants take decades to regenerate and product fruit.
While these problems could imperil local religious traditions that rely on the plant, the concerning trend points to a wider problem facing the industry—a lack of scalability. Cultivating and harvesting psychedelic plants is not a very efficient way to create psychedelic compounds at scale to meet demand from both consumers and researchers.
Chemical synthesis is often touted as a solution to the problem since it involves creating compounds in a lab rather than extracting them from a plant. The problem is that chemical synthesis is a time-consuming process that generates a lot of waste, which means that—while it’s more scalable than cultivation—it’s still not ideal over the long run.
Quality Control Issues
Quality control is another important issue facing the cannabis and psychedelics industries. Without standardized active ingredient profiles, it’s impossible for researchers to accurately determine how a therapy impacts patients. That’s why the vast majority of consumer prescriptions come in tablets with very exacting levels of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Not surprisingly, different plants have different levels of active ingredients within them that depend on everything from the environment to the extraction method. Cannabis plants, for example, have differing levels of cannabinoids and terpenes depending on their genetics, growing environment and a variety of other factors.
There may also be quality control issues that stem from the cultivation process itself. For instance, mold, heavy metals and other contaminants have frequently made it into consumer goods within the cannabis industry. These contaminants often come from cultivation processes that use pesticides and other things to prevent infestations.
Biosyn to the Rescue
The combination of scalability and quality control issues have made cannabis and psychedelic molecules very expensive to produce. Unfortunately, the lack of high-quality molecules has created a bottleneck for researchers of novel therapies, as well as a shortage in therapeutics that have already been approved.
CB Therapeutics Inc. believes that biosynthesis provides the ideal solution to these problems. Using yeast- and bacteria-based production techniques with simple feedstocks, the company’s cellular production processes can produce a broad range of phytochemicals faster, more sustainably, at greater yields and with higher purity, consistency and efficiency.
For example, the company recently announced that its downstream processing allowed for 99.6% pure CBC—a rare cannabinoid molecule found in trace quantities in cannabis and help. These techniques promise to drive down the cost of purification in parallel with increasing purity to over 99%—a major breakthrough for the industry.
Looking Ahead
CB Therapeutics Inc. is uniquely positioned to supply the cannabis and psychedelic research communities with rare molecules at scale. In addition to enabling research, the company hopes that these therapeutics eventually come to market and create large-scale demand for its unique cellular production technology—delivering significant long-term value for shareholders.
For more information, visit the company’s website or download their investor presentation.
