CEO Daniel Cohen on Pharmadrug Updates: DMT Research, THC Oil, Mushrooms

We’ve been keeping tabs on the updates rolling out from Pharmadrug (CSNX: BUZZ) (OTCMKTS: LMLLF), a company with fingers in a lot of pies. The CEO, Daniel Cohen, joins us once more on The Dales Report to report on what Pharmadrug is working on in the natural based medicines research and market space, including their DMT research and recently launched Super Smart Platform.

Here’s some highlights from the interview.

Orphan drug will help give Pharmadrug FDA protection for DMT Research, says Cohen

Last month, Pharmadrug announced that they had received the first FDA Orphan Drug Designation of DMT for the prevention of IRI. The orphan drug status is applied to drugs that already exist, Cohen says, and with it comes protection from the FDA to use it solely for a certain number of years.

“And that’s one of the reasons we’ll love the orphan drug designation,” Cohen says. “The other reason as well is that it’s a cheaper process to go through for several reasons … A) the FDA fees are lower, B) obviously when you’re doing a clinical study, it’s an orphan drug, so that means the clinical trial sample size is a lot smaller. So, things of that sort. And, yeah, when you come out the other end, you get protection for a certain amount of years because it’s an orphan drug. And the FDA is willing to respond a little bit more quickly as well.”

Cohen says Pharmadrug is part of DMT research being performed at the University of Michigan

Pharmadrug is involved with the studies being done at the University of Michigan under Dr. Jimo Borjigin, who is investigating how DMT affects the body. “Part of the reason we’re doing work with Dr. Jimo is that we have DMT existing in the human brain, being produced in the human brain, the body has a purpose for it and we don’t understand it,” Cohen says.

“We fully support the work being done in psychedelics for psychiatric indications and ailments but we don’t think that’s the only thing that DMT or other psychedelics can be used for,” Cohen continues. “And so the kidney transplant is a great example of how DMT can be used to calm an organ during an operation or during a procedure, being able to have anti-inflammatory aspects to it, anti-oxidative, and so, could we be using that for kidneys? Could we be using that for other ailments in the body that we haven’t discussed yet and which we’re at work at right now?”

Operations in Germany poised to capture the THC oil market when it begins

Every company that introduces cannabis, Cohen says, starts with flower. And then oil becomes more important. That’s where Germany’s at, he believes. “We’ll have oil right when the market says we want oil, not flower.”

Germany is still fully positioned in the medical market and has some of the toughest regulations in Europe. THC oils make more sense from a medical standpoint because it’s easier to dose.

Super Smart and the Functional Mushrooms to lay a foundation learned in Netherlands for psychedelic truffles

With Pharmadrug now having Super Smart launched stateside, Cohen says that “we’re going to have to spend the next six months adding to that product, continuing to look for the best product, and introducing our product. What we launched last week is not the be-all, end-all. It’s the first step in practice, probably just batting practice.”

But really, it’s just the path to entry for psychedelic truffles. “We are of the view it’s going to start with decriminalization and then move to legalization. At some point the psychedelic truffles will be legal. If we already have a brand and distribution channel, we’ll be ready to capitalize on it more quickly.”

And the Netherlands will also be part of that “batting practice” as well. Pharmadrug hasn’t been able to launch a physical presence there yet because of the lockdown, and it isn’t a large country, Cohen admits, even if it could still make them money. But at the end of the day, he says it’s a place where Pharmadrug can build the model to operate in other jurisdictions.

We’re sure to hear more updates from CEO Daniel Cohen on the outcomes of Pharmadrug’s DMT research and their activities in Europe soon.