InMed Pharmaceuticals: 2022 Looking Bright With Recent Acquisition Of BayMedica
The cannabis plant is known to contain around 100 different cannabinoids, the active compounds like THC and CBD that are responsible for some of its different effects. Other “rare” cannabinoids include CBG, CBN, CBC, and THC-V.
Producing these cannabinoids the natural way—by growing cannabis—is an onerous process, and can be a challenge as cannabis plants can be highly variable in cannabinoid content (not just from one cultivar or ‘strain’ to the rest, but within the same plant). Rather than growing cannabis to harvest these cannabinoids, companies like InMed Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: INM) are taking a different route: biosynthesis.
Listed on the Nasdaq just over one year ago, InMed Pharmaceuticals acquired U.S. based cannabinoid manufacturer Bay Medica in October. While cannabis hasn’t exactly been hot on the stock market in recent weeks, CEO Eric Adams told The Dales Report in a recent interview that retail investors shouldn’t lump in cannabinoid-focused companies with ones focused on cannabis.
“I think people need to separate in their minds the cannabis industry itself, and what’s happening with cannabinoids,” he said.
InMed focuses on two specific areas: the health and wellness space, where the cannabinoids it manufactures are sold to brands who incorporate them into end products like gummies, topicals, and so on; and the pharmaceutical space, where Adams said the company is slowly but surely gaining momentum.
“We kind of straddle both of those worlds and have nothing to do with the cannabis world, per se—that’s a whole different group of companies. From the health and wellness sector, things are continuing to expand, and there’s new rare cannabinoids coming to the market all the time.”
Based on what Adams has seen in 2021, he said “the foundation is set” at InMed to see significant growth over the next year, with human studies on the horizon.
Adams also pointed out that interest from Big Pharma in cannabinoids is already materializing, based on the recent announcement that Pfizer will acquire Arena Pharmaceuticals, a company with cannabinoid pharmaceuticals in its portfolio.
InMed’s acquisition of BayMedica was a highlight of the year for Adams, who said the company brings with it a revenue stream, a team of biotech and pharmaceutical experts with plenty of experience in research and development, and a suite of patents, one of which looks at cannabinoid analogues.
Before the acquisition, the companies had collaborated and found working together to be “a natural fit.”
“What we have in place now for the first half of next year is launching additional rare cannabinoids, which we know there is already a very high demand for. These are cannabinoids that people are constantly trying to source and put into products,” said Adams.
They include CBD-V, and THC-V, variants of CBD and THC which are non-intoxicating. Earlier clinical trials by other companies in the space show that CBD-V and THC-V could play a role in health and wellness, according to Adams.
Don’t miss out on the rest of TDR’s discussion with InMed’s CEO, who also explained the significance of the company’s ongoing clinical work on CBN and glaucoma.
