Cannabis ‘Bioavailability’: A Commercial Game-Changer
Marijuana Stocks, Finance, & InvestingUncategorized May 7, 2020 MJ Shareholders
There is a growing body of medical research that cannabis (and the “cannabinoids” it contains) has a number of important health and medicinal properties.
Cannabis is healthy. But smoking cannabis is unhealthy.
So why does smoking (or vaping) cannabis remain the most popular option with most consumers?
Bioavailability.
“Bioavailability” refers to the percentage of active ingredients that are absorbed when a particular substance is consumed. With respect to the cannabinoids in the cannabis plant (as well as the hemp sub-species), its oral bioavailability is low.
In simple terms, in its natural form cannabis generates a low level of cannabinoid absorption via oral ingestion.
Why? Here’s the science.
There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that cannabinoids are beneficial for a range of clinical conditions, including pain, inflammation, epilepsy, sleep disorders, the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, anorexia, schizophrenia and other conditions. The transformation of cannabinoids from herbal preparations into highly regulated prescription drugs is therefore progressing rapidly. The development of such drugs requires well-controlled clinical trials to be carried out in order to objectively establish therapeutic efficacy, dose ranges and safety. The low oral bioavailability of cannabinoids has led to feasible methods of administration, such as the transdermal route, intranasal administration and transmucosal adsorption, being proposed. The highly lipophilic nature of cannabinoids means that they are seen as suitable candidates for advanced nanosized drug delivery systems, which can be applied via a range of routes. [emphasis mine]
For those without a background in science, cannabinoid molecules are fat soluble (“highly lipophilic”). The result of this is that any oral ingestion causes these cannabinoids to be fully exposed to our digestive tract – including the “first pass” through our liver, the human body’s primary filter.
It is this “first pass” that significantly reduces the absorption of cannabinoids and product efficiency.
For the manufacturers of cannabis consumer products, this was a major hurdle in effectively commercializing non-smokable cannabis products. Without significantly improving cannabinoid bioavailability, these alternative cannabis products could never be price-competitive with (smokable) cannabis dried flower.
Several cannabis delivery technologies for improving cannabinoid bioavailability have since emerged.
One of the these new delivery technologies – that has already been tested and commercialized – is being used by CanaFarma Hemp Products (CAN:CNFA / GER:WKN A2P0WJ).
CanaFarma’s organic hemp oil-based consumer products are marketed under the brand name “YOOFORIC™”. Its flagship product is YOOFORIC™ hemp-oil infused chewing gum.
This cannabinoid-based chewing gum is a unique product offering. However, what has helped YOOFORIC™ generate strong revenue growth is that it is also an efficient consumer product. CanaFarma’s patent-pending hemp infusion technology generates high bioavailability.
CanaFarma has already tested YOOFORIC™ versus competing cannabinoid consumer products.
Legal in all U.S. states, YOOFORIC™ is already on the shelves of major U.S. retailers including Amazon, Costco, Overstock, Target, and Walmart.
This broad penetration has allowed YOOFORIC™ products to generate total sales of nearly $3.5 million (as of January 2020). CanaFarma only began marketing these products in June 2019.
Bioavailability is a critical issue for cannabis consumers as they choose among a multitude of new product offerings.
This makes bioavailability a crucial issue for cannabis companies as they seek to lock up market share in this emerging industry.
DISCLOSURE: CanaFarma Hemp Products is a client of The Seed Investor.
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