The majority of pharmaceutical and academic research & development activities investigating the physiological and disease fighting properties of cannabis revolves around the understanding of one class of biologically active ingredients, the cannabinoids. In the 1960s, several interesting compounds were isolated from the cannabis plant. While there are over 100 different cannabinoids, the two most well-known and studied compounds in the cannabis plant also happen to be the two that occur in the largest quantity: Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (“THC”) and cannabidiol (“CBD”).
Biosynthesis is the process of genetically modifying an organism to produce a pharmaceutically bioactive compound that it otherwise would not normally make. Manufacturing of pharmaceutical grade cannabinoids remains a challenge, especially for those that are found in only trace amounts in the cannabis plant but nevertheless may hold very important physiological benefits in humans. InMed recognized that having a reliable source of pure, pharmaceutical-grade starting materials for its products that are bio-identical to the compounds found in nature would be a critical success factor for our drug development strategy.
