Investorideas.com, a leading investor news resource covering hemp and cannabis stocks releases a snapshot of companies investing in new methods of cannabinoid production to meet the growing demands of the future
According to Research and Markets, “The legal cannabis market is projected to register a CAGR of over 27% by 2023 and the latest trend gaining momentum in the market is the use of advanced techniques in cannabis cultivation.”
Leading the way, NASDAQ’s first listed cannabis stock, Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CRON) (TSX: CRON) and Ginkgo Bioworks, the organism company, in early September announced a partnership to produce cultured cannabinoids.
Cronos Group described the benefits of the deal in their presentation “Through biosynthesis Cronos Group and Ginkgo Bioworks are creating a landmark partnership that will reduce the cost of cannabinoid production, create commercial scale and the ability to access rare cannabinoids.”
“Gingko Bioworks’ platform could enable Cronos Group to produce the cannabinoids (ingredients) that are essential for product development at a fraction of the cost, at commercial scale and at higher purity than what is currently available.”
One of the goals of the partnership, (estimated at $100M US with cash and stock and incentives) is to “Target production yields at a fraction of the cost of traditional cannabinoids production in plants: < $1,000 USD per KG.”
Cronos Group will have the exclusive right to use and commercialize the key patented intellectual property related to the production of the target cannabinoids perpetually and globally.
Following similar mindset, SinglePoint, Inc. (OTCQB:SING), a company positioned in the sector with its subsidiary SingleSeed.com, an ecommerce-based business that sells and supplies industrial-based hemp cannabidiol (CBD) products, just announced its investment in TorusMed Inc. to develop CBD Cell Cultures from industrial hemp.
From the news: “The goal of the project is to ultimately have CBD that is pharmaceutical grade and cultivated in lab settings to ensure consistency. This project has the opportunity to change the way industrial hemp and CBD are manufactured reducing time, cost and valuable resources while increasing consistency, safety and scalability of the plant.”
The specific aim of this is to develop the optimal protocols for the mass production of CBD from cell cultures of industrial hemp. The production of CBD from cell cultures is far more advantageous than from open-field farm cultivation of industry hemp for the following reasons: (1) independence from outside weather and seasonal climatic conditions; (2) environmentally-controlled production system in laboratory flasks and in scalable industrial photobioreactors; (3) optimal protocols for cell biomass growth and CBD production; (4) greater resource-use efficiency in terms of water, land nutrients, etc.; (5) greater convenience and efficiency in scale up of production in terms of using scalable industrial photobioreactors, among others.
The specific objectives of the study include: (1) To develop and establish cell cultures of industrial hemp both in the form of callus cells and of liquid cell suspension cultures; (2) To optimize the biomass growth of the cell suspension cultures in terms of nutrient media, light intensity, light quality and carbon dioxide (CO2) enrichment; (3) To optimize the CBD yield of the cell suspension cultures in terms of nutrient media, light intensity, light quality, and carbon dioxide (CO2) enrichment; and (4) To demonstrate the cultivation of the cell suspension cultures in scalable Photobioreactor. The specific aim for a potential Year 2 for the study is to develop the protocols for the cultivation of the cell cultures and production of CBD in industrial-scale Photobioreactors.
In September, Organigram Holdings Inc. (TSX VENTURE: OGI) (OTCQX: OGRMF), a licensed producer of medical marijuana reported the closing of its strategic investment ($10 million Cnd) in Hyasynth Biologicals Inc., a biotechnology company based in Montreal and a leader in the field of cannabinoid science and biosynthesis.
“Hyasynth’s patent-pending enzymes, yeast cells and processes make it possible to produce phytocannabinoids and phytocannabinoid analogues in genetically modified strains of yeast. Hyasynth’s proprietary enzymes and yeast strains have to date allowed them to make CBG, CBD and other cannabinoids for novel and specialized products including vapourizable cannabis products and cannabis-infused beverages, as well as pharmaceutical ingredients, for a fraction of the cost of traditional plant-based production. The company will continue to develop a comprehensive platform of cannabinoids beyond THC, CBD and CBG for both medical and recreational use.”
Another company looking at utilizing yeast for the production of cannabinoids, Intrexon Corporation (NASDAQ: XON) in September announced advances in the development of its microbial platform to produce cannabinoids for medical uses. “Through Intrexon’s proprietary technologies, the Company has engineered a yeast strain to produce low-cost, robust and consistent cannabinoid outputs via fermentation. This process utilizing microbes has the potential to provide greater supply-chain security and avoids the resource-intensive isolation that often leads to quality and quantity variability in end products.”
With yeast currently used in the making of beer and wine and the recent deal flow in the beer/cannabis and CBD beverage market, it seems like a natural next step for the cannabis industry to be researching how yeast can play a future role.