Research
Marin cannabis researchers claim breakthrough against chronic diseases
A Marin County medical cannabis and pharmaceutical coalition says it’s discovered a way to ramp up production of a few of those rarest compounds made by marijuana blossoms that ancient studies demonstrate could be a means to take care of diabetes, reduced cholesterol and offer additional health benefits.
This cannabinoid called THCV, or tetrahydrocannabivarin, is regarded as among the rarest cannabinoids and can be only found in trace quantities in many breeds of this plant.
Dr. Michael Moskowitz, of San Rafael, president of the Bay Area Pain Medical Associates along with a local psychologist, is the creator of the Medical Cannabis Research Consortium of Marin, that was analyzing THCV. He started recommending medical cannabis to patients in 2015 and discovered it had several abstract advantages, such as individuals decreasing psychiatric and psychiatric pain medication usage.
He said he plans to examine THCV’s consequences on a single individual that has been severely influenced by both childhood and adult type II diabetes.
“The one thing which THCV does is it is analgesic and anti inflammatory, it is neuroprotective, so it protects the nervous system,” Moskowitz said. “It is anti-nausea and nausea. It assists with bone health and bone formation, so it is sleep-promoting, it is anti-epileptic, it is anti-anxiety. It is a significant anti-psychotic. Plus it will help with appetite suppression, it is anti-diabetic and it is anti-cholesterol.
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“Apart from that it did not do so much,” Moskowitz joked.
Moskowitz explained that despite its rarity, THCV isn’t regarded as a risky medication, has no lethal dose also contains insignificant side effects.
“The remedy for the negative effects is really a rest,” he explained.
The Bel Marin Keys-based bio-pharmaceutical firm Liposome Formulations Inc., that can be a part of the local consortium, announced this week it will be releasing many new medical cannabis products, among which will be a THCV tablet computer.
Bill Heriot, the corporation’s manufacturing director, stated the liposome patents that they hold permits for quicker absorption of drugs and dietary supplements work for medical cannabis too. The business is also undergoing clinical trials using the Food and Drug Administration for a medication which treats osteoarthritis.
The business is hosting an open house on Friday in 42 Digital Drive, Suite 6, in Novato for the Novato City Council, city staff and the people as the city starts work to develop cannabis industry regulations.
Heriot reported the objective of the consortium is to produce a vertically-integrated medical cannabis firm — meaning controllers from generation through sale — which are going to have the ability to provide medical grade cannabis products for patients.
“We aim to compete directly with GW Pharmaceuticals since we’ve got the patents, the engineering and the know-how to do precisely that, which is indicative of,” Heriot explained. “We are a little, privately-owned business and can proceed very quickly and pivot on a dime to put in this market, which is exactly what our aim is actually doing. It is exciting times ahead.”
THCV study
Researchers such as Heriot, Moskowitz and many others from the consortium are optimistic that THCV may go the way of another cannabinoid known generally as CBD, cannabidiol, in the health care world.
Back in June, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s accepted a cannabis-based epilepsy medication Epidiolex, which medical cannabis supporters are expecting is signaling a prospective change in tolerance for cannabis’ pharmaceutical applications.
GW Pharmaceuticals, the company that produced Epidiolex, has also been exploring THCV as possible treatment for a number of ailments and wellness problems such type II diabetes, schizophrenia, epilepsy, cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s, together with various others.
There’s been a peer-reviewed study conducted on the consequences of THCV, largely beyond the U.S., which discovered it to be promising for diabetes therapy.
A 2013 research in Nature’s Nutrition and Diabetes journal analyzed THCV on mice and reasoned that it might be a possible cure for type II diabetes. The research was partially funded by GW Pharmaceuticals and a few of the analysis coauthors were employees or stockholders in the organization.
More lately, a 2016 Diabetes Care journal also reasoned THCV might represent a new therapeutic agent blood glucose control for individuals with type II diabetes. A 2012 research in the American Journal of Pathology said that THCV appears to be a”promising therapeutic chemical” for treating diabetes by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress, and also the analysis says”are crucial processes in the evolution of diabetes and diabetic complications.”
As to if THCV can also be psychoactive like THC, Moskowitz stated it’s been categorized as equally, but stated the study to support either decision is lacking.
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Finding THCV
Longtime Marin County resident George Bianchini, creator of the medical cannabis firm Medi-Cone, said he inadvertently stumbled upon the breed of cannabis that generates large levels of THCV.
He discovered the breed that afterwards was called”Black Beauty” a long time back when he and a study partner, Ed Rosenthal, were mutating the genotypes of this plant. They had been hoping to fortify the plant fragrance-producing terpenes so it might be marketable, but what they got was something much different.
Bianchini said he almost chucked the strain after laboratory test results revealed it had reduced THC without a CBD. Prior to doing this, he said that he got a call in Steep Hill Labs at Oakland notifying him that the breed was generating a remarkably large proportion of THCV — roughly 3.5 percent.
“I said,’You know I needed to ask you about that. What can it be?'” Bianchini said. “I’ve been in this sector for some time and hadn’t ever heard of it”
These greater THCV levels are thought to have originated in breeds by sub-Saharan Africa, based Bianchini and Moskowitz. However, as cannabis became lucrative from the 20th century, particularly those with higher THC levels, Bianchini said growers were breeding their crops to produce more THC in the price of different cannabinoids.
“What we have been doing is switching that via breeding and that is the very first one that we have come up with,” Bianchini said. “Now we have gone from a single and we have developed four different phenotypes.”
But despite the high THC levels, the price to create enough cannabis to generate THCV production marketable remains fairly high, particularly considering California’s regulations.
Bianchini said he is currently focusing his attention on hemp, also stated they’ve almost bred this large THCV-producing genetic information to a lawful industrial hemp plant. This may significantly decrease the expense of generation for THCV since Congress believes the 2018 Farm Bill, that could effectively legalize hemp, even though there’s still question about if it would nevertheless be categorized as berry.
The Marin-based medical cannabis consortium stated the ultimate aim is to receive a federally-approved pharmaceutical medication containing THCV. By having a certified pharmaceutical business via Liposome Formulations on its own side, Bianchini said they have got a leg up.
“Regardless of who’s creating a health solution, it is going to need to be via a FDA-licensed pharmaceutical company,” Bianchini said.