Trait Biosciences Announces That Its Amplified Cultivation Technology Quadruples CBD Production in Hemp

LOS ALAMOS, NM, July 30, 2019 / – PRESS RELEASE – Trait Biosciences Inc., a biotechnology company in the cannabis industry, has announced that it has generated the first engineered hemp plants with a value-added trait. The company has successfully developed hemp plants that are producing four times the amount of cannabidiol (CBD) than conventional hemp plants. These Amplified hemp plants also had a 35-percent increase in the number of trichomes on the leaves of the plant, relative to the control plants.

These results were achieved using only one of the many strategies that comprise Trait’s Amplified technology, and demonstrate its commercial potential. When all strategies are incorporated, Amplified plants are expected to grow faster and more efficiently than conventional plants, produce cannabinoid yields far in excess of conventional plants, and produce water-soluble cannabinoids naturally in the plant.

The achievement was completed by Trait’s scientific team, led by Dr. Richard Sayre, in its licensed facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and was accomplished just over a month after Trait announced the first successful stable transformation of a hemp plant.

“Trait’s Amplified technology is comprised of a series of strategies that are designed to dramatically increase the production and yield of cannabinoids in hemp and cannabis plants, while at the same time greatly reducing the cost of production and extraction,” said Dr. Richard Sayre, chief science officer of Trait. “The results we are announcing today reflect the work of only one of our Amplified strategies, which was specifically designed to increase cannabinoid production, as well as increase the number of trichomes that form on the plant.”

The actual cannabinoid yields in the Amplified plants were as follows (cannabinoid amounts are expressed in mass units per equivalent amount of leaf material extracted):

Peter McDonough, CEO of Trait, added, “What is truly remarkable about our team’s achievement is that these results were achieved using only one of the many strategies that comprise our Amplified cultivation technology. We had been conservatively estimating that our Amplified technology would increase yields by two to four times, but based on the results of this initial strategy, we now feel confident that Trait’s breakthrough technology will more than quadruple the plant’s traditional yield.”   

“As we introduce the other strategies–which include technologies that have been shown in field trials to double photosynthetic efficiency of the plant, technologies that eliminate the production of hydrogen peroxide during the synthesis of cannabinoids and, of course, our technology that enables hemp and cannabis plants to produce water-soluble cannabinoids naturally in the plants themselves–we are confident that we will  exceed our expectations in the yield increases that can be achieved by our Amplified technology.”

Ronan Levy, chief strategy officer of Trait, summed up the achievement as follows: “When you look at the totality of what our Amplified technology can do, you start to understand why the entire industry is excited about what Dr. Sayre and his team are achieving. Put simply, you get cannabis and hemp plants that grow faster, require less light and water, have a shorter growing period, and produce vastly more cannabinoids. On top of that, the cannabinoids that Amplified plants are synthesizing are truly water-soluble, which means they have higher bioavailability, faster and more predictable onset, and do not require toxic solvents to be extracted.”