FROM THE FINANCIAL POST:
People with such serious medical conditions as glaucoma and multiple sclerosis may smoke marijuana to deliver a range of chemicals that they believe helps improve their conditions. The problem is that a joint might just be one of the least effective methods to deliver some of the 90+ cannabinoids found in cannabis.
Vancouver-based InMed Pharmaceuticals Inc., a pre-clinical biotech company, aims to change that model by biosynthesizing individual cannabinoids and delivering only those ingredients that their research indicates will effectively treat specific conditions. Equally important, InMed aims to produce medications that will leave out the chemicals that don’t have an impact on the disease being targeted.
“Smoking marijuana delivers 200 to 300 different chemicals into your lungs,” says Eric A. Adams, president and CEO of InMed Pharmaceuticals. “Smoke is harmful and there’s no way to effectively dose any specific cannabinoid. THC is one of the most prominent components found in marijuana. However, there are other cannabinoids we believe will be effective, without causing the psychoactivity seen with THC.”
It’s a simple concept backed by complex science. InMed has made significant strides in two fields: bioinformatics, which is the ability to predict which cannabinoids will treat certain conditions; and biosynthesis, the laboratory cultivation of individual cannabinoids without growing cannabis plants.
The company’s expertise in bioinformatics is based on the work of Dr. Sazzad Hossain, chief scientific officer and co-founder of InMed.
“Dr. Hossain has a 40-year track record on the forefront of cannabinoid science,” says Adams. “His work led to the creation of our bioinformatics database, which leverages a proprietary algorithm to look at cannabinoid structures and match them to numerous criteria that are important in determining which drugs will be effective in treating specific diseases and conditions. That allows us to narrow lab testing to only the most promising candidates and expedite preclinical research.”
Biosynthesis allows InMed to produce quantities of each individual cannabinoid using DNA as a building block.
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