Cannabis Entrepreneurship: Chris Bunka, CEO, Lexaria

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ87-6r1PRc&w=560&h=315]

When you smoke a joint, your body will typically absorb about 30% of the cannabinoids entering your system. If you vape, the absorption rate drops to about 20 – 22%. If you take a sublingual, the absorption rate continues to drop to around 12%. Finally, if you eat a cannabis infused product, such as a cookie or chocolate, your body absorbs around 5% of the cannabinoids in the product.

Chris Bunka, CEO of Lexaria, talks about the company’s R&D, which aims to improve the absorption rates for ingested products.

Lexaria is focused on developing a technology that improves the bioavailability of ingested actives, such as CBD or THC. This is accomplished by wrapping the THC and / or CBD in a long chain fatty acid, such as sunflower oil, so that when the healthy fat passes through the digestive system, the fat, along with the CBD or THC, is absorbed by the body.

Initial testing has shown a 4 times improvement in absorption rates. This means that a consumer could consume ¼ the amount of THC (say 5mg instead of 20mg) to achieve the same net aborption and the same medicinal effect as a 20mg product on the market today.

With the absorption technology providing a solid foundation, the company has a two pronged business strategy.

First, it is developing its own ViPova brand of CBD rich teas and edibles that will be sold nationally (and globally). The company made a decision to focus on CBD rich products rather than THC, in part, because US law allows CBD rich products from agricultural hemp grown outside the United States to be sold in all 50 states. Legally, ViPova can sell its teas and energy bars in any grocery or health store that wants to carry the products, not just in dispensaries in medical marijuana states.

The other revenue stream will come from licensing its technology to other edibles companies to improve molecular (THC and / or CBD) absorption and bioavailability of their products.

A quick definition:

In pharmacology, bioavailability is a subcategory of absorption and is the fraction of an administered dose of unchanged drug that reaches the systemic circulation. By definition, when a medication is administered intravenously, its bioavailability is 100%.

 

However, when a medication is administered via other routes (such as orally), its bioavailability generally decreases (due to incomplete absorption and first-pass metabolism) or may vary from patient to patient.

 

For dietary supplements, herbs and other nutrients in which the route of administration is nearly always oral, bioavailability generally designates simply the quantity or fraction of the ingested dose that is absorbed.