Panacea Life Sciences Holdings celebrates its first year of collaboration with Colorado State University's Cannabinoid Research Center (CRC). With a mission of performing research to solve important industry issues and to better understand how cannabinoids work in the body, the center has made remarkable progress in its inaugural year.
The CRC, established through a $1.5 million gift from CSU alumna and Panacea Life Sciences CEO Leslie Buttorff, consists of analytical chemistry and preparative chemistry technologies crucial for the detection and purification of cannabinoids. Using these technologies, the CRC is able to remove common contaminants from hemp products, purify low-concentration cannabinoids, and support clinical studies. The center's activities are coordinated by Boettcher Investigator Professor Melissa Reynolds, with operations led by Jamie Cuchiaro, a Ph.D. candidate who will matriculate next month. Over the last 12 months, the laboratory has been extremely productive through initial analytical research and supporting numerous clinical studies in both dogs and humans.
Highlights
- Solving industry issues
Problem: The hemp plant is a hyperaccumulator, meaning trace elements in the soil in which the plant is grown, such as heavy metals, pesticides, and others, are readily absorbed in the plant, potentially contaminating hemp oil and rendering the material unusable.
Solution: Using analytical techniques, graduate student Jamie Cuchiaro has developed a method for the complete removal of commonly used pesticides to remediate contaminated hemp oil to produce a safe and usable hemp product. This work has been submitted for publication to the Journal of Cannabis Research in August of this year.
- Sustainability and access to minor cannabinoids
Problem: In addition to CBD and THC, each of the other 118 cannabinoids are anticipated to have unique and beneficial health benefits. However, because they are present at less than 1% in hemp extracts, there are issues in both obtaining sufficient quantities and determining the purity of each of the minor cannabinoids.
Solution: The byproduct created during the distillation process of crude hemp oil is typically thrown away to enter the waste stream. In closer examination of the byproduct, the CRC determined that there are substantial minor cannabinoids present, such as cannabidivarin (CBDV), Cannabichromene (CBC), Cannabicyclol (CBL), and Cannabielsoin (CBE). Using the advanced technology in the CRC, the team can now access these low-abundance cannabinoids while also assisting Panacea (as a member of Colorado's Environmental Leadership Program) in attaining its sustainability goals by decreasing waste streams.
- Supporting clinical trials
To gain further insight into cannabinoid activity, Panacea and the CRC are collaborating to launch specific clinical trials in several areas. The first two studies have launched this year (2022):
1. In collaboration with Dr. Stephanie McGrath and Dr. Julie Moreno, to examine CBD effects in a translational model of Alzheimer's disease. In this study, performed in aged dogs that have cognitive impairment very similar to human AD, not only will CBD be evaluated for its ability to slow disease progression, but it will be one of the first studies to correlate how much consumed CBD enters the brain.
2. In collaboration with Dr. Larry Good, a practicing gastroenterologist in New York, Panacea and the CRC have launched an open-label study evaluating CBD and CBG for effects on irritable bowel syndrome, a condition affecting over 30 million Americans with no proven treatment.
Looking ahead
The CRC is actively working on expanding collaborations to progress research on various cannabinoids with a focus on improving health and addressing unmet medical needs. Collaborations to evaluate cannabinoids' effects on various conditions, including exercise performance and recovery, gout, and even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), are underway. Panacea and the CRC also plan to work on improving methods for detecting cannabinoids as well as launching clinical studies for gout, eczema, rosacea, and acne, among others.
"The progress made in the past year by the CRC has been tremendous, and the future is extremely bright. With continued teamwork and direct studies, the CRC is poised to make even more revolutionary contributions to understanding how cannabinoids influence health and refining which conditions and doses are required for positive effects. Progress of the CRC will be posted as publications are submitted or clinical studies are completed on both the Colorado State University Panacea Life Sciences Cannabinoid Research Center page and at www.panacealife.com"
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