Professor Raphael Mechoulam, also known as the “father of cannabis research”, unveiled his latest discovery, cannabidiolic acid methyl ester (EPM301), in 2020. Excitement about the future of medicinal cannabis.
The compound in question was introduced to the world in partnership with EPM, a US-based global biotechnology company aiming to bridge the gap between the cannabis and pharmaceutical industries.
During an exclusive chat, CEO Reshef Swisa and Dr. Mechoulam the story of the journey behind this revolutionary process and its importance in the development of the use of CBD as a pharmaceutical drug.
Get to know EPM301
“EPM has developed a method to work with the original substances of cannabis,” explained the professor. “So while everyone is debating THC and CBD, these cannabinoids are actually a secondary substance; they only appear later in the plant.
“Originally, there’s an acid that’s found in the plant, and those acids are these mysterious worlds of compounds that are way more potent than cannabinoids,” he added.
However, these cannabidiolic acids were unstable and therefore useless for pharmaceutical drug development. Until now, that is.
Mechoulam’s latest discovery relies on the development of a method that allows the acids to be modified in a way that makes them stable enough to allow their use on a large scale. This opens the door for more pharmaceutical experimentation, the professor explained.
“We took a cannabidiolic acid and stabilized it through a simple chemical process called esterification; then the connection is stable,” explains Swisa.
The team “then began looking at the activity of this compound … and found that this particular compound causes suppression of anxiety and nausea,” he continued, adding that this …
