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SAN DIEGO – On behalf of the marijuana industry, scientists are striving to find new ways to produce the most valuable components of marijuana.
Science, once put on the market, would be a gold mine for those who would perfect it, giving two distinct industries – pharmaceutical and legal cannabis – stable, powerful and cheap sources of the ingredients they need.
At present, the two most requested ingredients in the industry are THC, the compound that causes intoxication in marijuana, and CBD, a compound used for its medicinal effects. Today, we obtain these compounds by growing marijuana plants in large greenhouses, then extracting and isolating the active ingredients. It is an expensive process.
However, the recent boom in the cannabis industry has led to the need to find cheaper and faster ways to obtain THC and CBD.
In particular, legal marijuana has increased demand for products that will appeal to non-smokers. Instead of the traditional dried "green" flower, marijuana dispensaries sell everything from oils, foods and drinks infused with THC and CBD.
Food and beverages (known as "food products") have grown significantly in recent years and now account for 40% of clinic marijuana sales, according to some estimates. Producers can not grow cannabis fast enough, which is why scientists are trying to produce it in the laboratory.
Instead of growing plants, researchers have found a way to make yeast work. In simple terms, scientists insert the genes of a cannabis plant into yeast DNA. These mutant yeast strains then make cannabinoids such as THC and CBD, requiring only large amounts of sugar.
This type of bioreactor is not new. Yeast and other organisms have long been used to create and isolate drugs and substances. But the use of yeast to produce specific cannabinoids is a new branch of science, and those working in the field continue to determine how to make it on an industrial scale. Whoever understands it first will have a precious good.
San Diego has two startups that work hard. Librede was launched in 2013 and has two patents issued and one pending. CB Therapeutics is a rising star in the world of startups. She is among the finalists of a recent TechCrunch pitch contest and is waiting for a patent.
The two companies have been facing opponents from the beginning, they say, and have trouble getting investors to understand the value of the bio-cannabinoid plant.
"I was presenting this idea in San Diego a few years ago and it's funny how things are changing," said Sher Ali Butt, 31, co-founder and CEO of CB Therapeutics. "Before legalization in California, nobody wanted to take my call, I went to places and people laughed at me."
Librede founder Jason Poulos, 35, said fundraising was exhausting for that very reason. "Everyone just laughs and makes a stoner joke about yeast or something," he said.
But the laughs are dead. The idea of making cannabinoids for yeast is now irrelevant, and the country's biotech companies are embarking on the race for yeast patents and manufacturing methods. Anyone who will come out the first risk of seizing a big slice of the cake of the cannabis industry, worth $ 10 billion.
Librede and CB Therapeutics are joined by several other companies, including the latest entrant: Intrexon, a Maryland company with a market capitalization of $ 2.4 billion. The synthetic biology company announced at the end of September that it has developed a yeast strain for the production of cannabinoids, strengthening the company's stocks by 27% overnight.
Intrexon officials refused to share the details of their research, but said they had been working there for some time.
This year has been a defining moment for the cannabis industry.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first CBD-based drug in history this year with Epidiolex, the drug for the seizure of GW Pharmaceuticals. This approval will likely encourage other drug manufacturers to carry out further research, including those studying more than 100 cannabinoids in cannabis other than CBD that may have therapeutic effects.
The marijuana market for recreational purposes has also exploded. In the last two years, five other states have legalized recreational use: Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, California, and Vermont. They join the first legal users of marijuana: Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon.
Start-up investors suddenly changed their tone, Butt said. Now he regularly rejects investors. "I do not have enough room to welcome them," he said.
Mr. Poulos said the interest had certainly increased, but he thought investors remained cautious.
"There is a continuous cannabis bubble, so there is a lot of money," Poulos said. "And it's a burgeoning new technology in a new boiling market, more and more people are interested in it, they're watching the market closely."
Despite the positive advance, attorney John Cleary said he always advised his clients to avoid this type of investment at the moment.
"Anything that concerns the process of growing or growing a product containing THC is a federal crime," said Cleary.
In 2017, Poulos raised several hundred thousand dollars in private funds to supplement its $ 1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Butt said that he had also raised funds from Y Combinator and TechCrunch, but he did not disclose the details.
CB Therapeutics is about to market its cannabinoids within two months, Butt said, initially attacking the nutraceutical and pet markets. All he's waiting for is the installation of his manufacturing facility. He got a space near San Diego, but he still has to speed up the process.
Regarding Librede, Poulos said it was still raising money to start marketing. He hopes to get new investments in the coming months.
SundayMonday Affaires on 14/10/2018
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