Business
Researchers Aim To Combine Psilocybin and Cannabis Into Single Medical Treatment
A research company in Washington is working to combine cannabis and psilocybin into a single compound for medical use.
The company, CaaMTech, first received a patent in support of the research in 2021. An article published Wednesday on the website Greenstate explains that the company “develops pharmaceutical drugs for mental health conditions like depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder,” and is now “researching the therapeutic value of psilocybin in combination with cannabinoids.”
“Through their research, CaaMTech has isolated derivatives of psilocybin, cannabinoids, and terpenes,” Greenstate explained.
In the 2021 announcement of the patent, CaaMTech founder and CEO, Dr. Andrew Chadeayne said that the company’s “goal from Day 1 has been to capture as much of CaaMTech’s scientific innovation as possible in our intellectual property portfolio as we develop the next generation of psychedelic drugs.”
“The allowance of our first patent application has given a shot of energy to the team that has worked diligently over these past four years to bring it to the finish line,” Chadeayne said in the announcement. “With hundreds of applications still to prosecute, this is a great start.”
“Strong patent protection and fundamental research give our drugs the foundational support that they need to proceed through clinical trials and become FDA-approved medicines,” he added. “‘Compositions and methods comprising a psilocybin derivative’ covers (among other subject matter) the synergistic modulatory effects of cannabinoids on the activation of serotonin receptors when administered in conjunction with a serotonin agonist. In simpler terms, CaaMTech has shown that cannabinoids work synergistically with psychedelic tryptamines in producing their effects. In doing so, CaaMTech has demonstrated the potential for two drugs once declared by the United States Federal Government to have ‘no known medical value’ to treat some of the world’s most challenging mental health issues.”
The announcement said that “notice of allowance [from the the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)] is a watershed moment for CaaMTech’s intellectual property division, which has filed in excess of one hundred additional patent applications since the application was filed in 2017.”
“Allowance is the final hurdle of examination before a patent is issued,” the announcement said.
Since the approval of that patent in 2021, Greenstate reports that “CaaMTech has shared findings related to 4-PrO-DMT as a novel synthetic alternative to psilocybin, among other things.”
“Separate efforts may supplement this work, like the research survey from SABI Mind covering myriad topics, like the general acceptance or disregard for synthetic alternatives to compounds like psilocybin. These steps, alongside policy work, create wider access lanes for patients seeking trustworthy, science-based psychedelic therapies,” the outlet reported.
Developing the compound will not be easy. As MJBizDaily explained, there are “serious obstacles to creating a combo compound.”
“Cannabinoids and psychedelics act on different receptors in the brain. Cannabinoids such as THC binds primarily to the CB1 cannabinoid receptor; CBC binds primarily to the CB2 receptor. Psychedelics such as psilocybin bind primarily to 5-HT2A serotonin receptors,” the outlet reported.
“But there has been research showing that the cannabinoid CBD can bind to serotonin, and that, when serotonin is joined with a CB2 cannabinoid receptor, the resulting combination can do things that neither receptor can do on its own…Buoyed by the potential of the combo compound, the medical cannabis community is growing increasingly excited. For example, cannabis combined with psychedelics has been found to shrink tumors significantly in breast cancer.”
CaaMTech, based in Issaquah, Washington, bills itself as “the foremost drug discovery and lead optimization company focused on engineering psychedelic drugs that meet the standards of modern medicine.”
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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