Cannabis’ Pharma Futuremaker

Cannabis’ Pharma Futuremaker

As you hopefully already know, Emblem Corp is divided into three specific divisions.

You get your medical cannabis and all your useful informational content from one specific division… Emblem Cannabis, the production side of things. GrowWise Health is our educational division, working with clinics to help educate both patients and physicians. Then there’s the Emblem Pharmaceutical Division, which is all about pioneering brand new ways to harness the power of cannabinoids for cannabis-based medications in a variety of easy-to-use formulations. Our Pharma Division happens to be led by an absolute expert in the field, our Pharma President, John Stewart. We talked to him about his past experience in the pharmaceutical realm, how it played an important role in forging his way into medical cannabis, and how he’s planning on being a big part in revolutionizing and normalizing medical cannabis.

Q: You have an impressive resume and background in pharmaceuticals. Can you share some of your past experiences?

A: I was President & CEO of Purdue Pharma U.S. from 2007 to 2013, President & CEO of Purdue Canada from 1991 to 2008 and prior to becoming President to Purdue Canada, I served as VP R&D (research and development), in which I was responsible for activities pertaining to formulation R&D, pre-clinical and clinical development, and regulatory affairs.

Q: How did these specific roles prepare you for redefining your career within the medical cannabis industry?

A: These positions provided me with an in-depth understanding of inter-country differences in healthcare systems, drug regulatory agencies and pharmaceutical reimbursement paradigms. I saw first-hand the significant importance of pharmaceutical dosage forms in terms of improving healthcare outcomes. It was also during my time as VP of R&D for Purdue in the 1980’s that I first became aware of the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids. One of my UK Colleagues headed European clinical drug development activities, and he encouraged the company to initiate a cannabinoid research program targeted toward management of pain and movement disorders. Purdue did not pursue the opportunity, and my colleague subsequently founded what has become a very successful company in the field.

Q: When searching for a company to join, furthering your cannabinoid research and goals, what made Emblem stand out amongst all the other licensed producers?

A: The executives at Emblem were familiar with the healthcare industry and already invested in healthcare-related businesses. They agreed with me that the therapeutic benefits of cannabinoids are real, but that they would not be fully achieved if the only way the product could be administered was by smoking or vaporization. They were immediately supportive of Emblem establishing a “pharma” division, to research the medical benefits of cannabinoids and helping identify which strains have the greatest evidence for benefit in particular conditions. An equally important component of the division’s activity is the formulation and development of pharmaceutical dosage forms (for example, capsules, oral sprays, and modified-release tablets) containing specific cannabinoids, which for a variety of reasons, will be both more acceptable and effective for medical patients.

Q: Have you found that many people are skeptical of pharmaceutical or drug companies?

A: Nobody had directly said, “We are terrified big pharma’s going to come take over this industry”. However, there clearly are concerns that the way the industry is evolving under the ACMPR is much more of an industry model – which may displace the many groups that functioned under the original MMAR program. In a positive sense, patients and healthcare professionals do recognize that Licensed Producers are investing in research that will help further the evidence of the medical benefits of cannabinoids.

Q: Some Canadian doctors are wary about prescribing medical cannabis and the benefits that can be gained from patients using it. How do you feel about this?

A: It’s understandable, as they’ve not been trained on cannabis as a medical therapy. Fundamentally, cannabis doesn’t look like a medicine in the way it’s currently being packaged and presented, and most physicians are simply not going to recommend or prescribe a therapy that they’re not familiar with. I believe that the development of cannabinoid-containing traditional dosage forms along with evidence of appropriate dosage regimens for specific disorders will go a long way toward improving the acceptance of “cannabis” as a real therapeutic agent.

Q: How might cannabis play a role in reducing the opioid epidemic?

A: Cannabis will not totally replace more powerful painkillers, like opioids, since for some conditions/situations their analgesic potency isn’t sufficient. However, studies have shown that cannabinoids are quite effective for some types of chronic pain – so for those conditions it may well displace opioid prescribing.

Q: Although your day-to-day position is all about pharma, how important is the Production Division of Emblem?

A: Cultivating cannabis may be seen as simple and straightforward, but in reality, it is far, far from that. One need only look at the industry recalls of cannabis due to excessive microbial levels, or the presence of pesticides, to realize that this is a complex process that requires detailed attention and responsible oversight. Our production division’s responsibility is to continually and consistently cultivate at the highest levels of quality the cannabis strains we identify as being of the greatest therapeutic benefit. They need to ensure that our core strains have the same cannabinoid profile, irrespective of the time of year they are cultivated. Only via this consistency will the pharma division be able to produce advanced formulations that reach pharmaceutical industry levels of potency and purity.

Q: What’s your most important goal for Emblem’s pharmaceutical division?

A: We’ve always known that cannabinoids offer real therapeutic value. Studies have shown that use of pain medications diminishes in areas where medical cannabis is prescribed. We plan on bringing to market numerous dosage forms designed to optimize performance depending on the intended use. For example, we will have rapid onset formulations for use by patients seeking an immediate effect as well as long-acting formulations designed to provide for once-daily or twice-daily dosing for patients with chronic conditions looking for continuous effects. Carefully measured doses and dosage regimens will dramatically increase the consistency, quality and therapeutic outcomes possible with medical cannabis therapy.

Q: In your opinion, what are the best and worst ways to consume medical cannabis?

A: From the perspective of reliable and consistent efficacy, it is difficult to imagine a less appropriate method of administration for medical than smoking or vaporization of dried cannabis. With smoking, a person is inhaling combustion byproducts along with the cannabinoids – certainly undesirable and likely in some ways harmful. With vaporization, there is less in the way of combustion byproducts, but dose-to-dose consistency is extremely difficult. The amount of cannabinoids that reach the body depends on the depth of the inhalation, how long one holds the inhalation before exhaling and of course the crop to crop variability in the cannabinoid content of dried cannabis.

Q: What are a few things that are on the horizon for Emblem?

A: We will see a very significant expansion of the company’s cultivation capacity and advances in cultivation techniques, dedication of a completely new extraction and formulation development laboratory, and impressive additions to the nature of information and services available from GrowWise Health.

Q: Finally, what are your words to live by?

A: Recognize that each of us is simply one small part of an ecosystem, and that the vast majority of other members have different but equally important roles and responsibilities. Understand and appreciate those roles, and accommodate them in your daily activities.