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As Canada’s prime minister talks up the imminent legalization of marijuana, a Vancouver-based pharmaceutical startup is taking the cannabis plant apart to find compounds that could treat disorders ranging from glaucoma to a rare skin disorder.

InMed Pharmaceuticals aims to use the more than 100 different “cannabinoids” as the raw materials for a number of clinical applications.

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“We’re going far away from any so-called recreational (use),” said InMed chief medical officer Dr. Ado Muhammad. “We’re going away completely from that direction, to make sure that the product is comparable to any other antibiotics or drugs.”

Senior vice-president Chris Bogart said the four-year-old company is about four years of clinical trials away from getting approvals in Canada and the U.S. for a topical cream made from one of those compounds that could treat epidermolysis bullosa — a potentially fatal skin condition affecting about 500,000 children worldwide that causes severe blistering of the body, mouth and throat.