Marijuana may be legal at a recreational level in Canada thanks to the passage of the Cannabis Act, but that doesn’t mean companies are forgetting about the medical side of the equation.
The cannabis industry is officially taking off in Canada due to legalization, and medical research will play a large role in continued growth.
Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CRON & TSX: CRON) just entered into a sponsored research agreement to explore the use of cannabinoids and their role in regulating skin health and skin disorders.
Cronos has teamed up with the Technion Research and Development Foundation of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology to kick off the study.
The agreement will see preclinical studies conducted by Technion over a three-year period with a focus on acne, psoriasis, and skin repair.
Skin care treatment research conducted under the new deal will be led by skin stem cell experts Dr. David “Dedi” Meiri and Dr. Yaron Fuchs.
Development and implementation of the research will be conducted at Technion’s Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabis Research and the Lorry I. Lokey Interdisciplinary Center of Life Sciences and Engineering in Haifa, Israel.
Mike Gorenstein, CEO of the Toronto-based Cronos Group, issued this statement about the new joint research venture:
“We believe that the potential applications of cannabinoids to regulate skin health and treat skin disorders are vast, and we are excited to begin exploring these applications through our partnership with Technion. Using rigorous data to develop efficacious topical and transdermal formulations will be key to creating differentiated products that provide quality treatments to our consumers and strengthen our brand portfolio.”
David Hsu, COO of Cronos Group, also added:
“We are thrilled to begin this joint research with Dr. Meiri and Dr. Fuchs, who are among the most respected researchers in their fields. Dr. Meiri’s extensive cannabis strain database and capabilities in analytical testing provide a strong foundation for researching Dr. Fuch’s world renowned stem cell organoids. Dr. Meiri and Dr. Fuchs’ expertise coupled with Cronos Group’s competencies in the cannabis industry make us optimistic about the future opportunities from this collaboration.”
The research will utilize Dr. Meiri’s cannabis strain database of over 80 cultivars and Cronos Group’s strain specific cannabis oils to isolate and investigate the effects of cannabinoids for treating acne, psoriasis, and wounds using stem cell-derived organoid cultures.
“We are pleased to partner with Cronos Group on this groundbreaking cannabinoid research,” said Dr. Fuchs. “Using our state of the art technology, we hope to unlock the vast therapeutic potential of cannabinoid formulations for treating skin disorders.”
This partnership is just the latest in a string of medical marijuana usages being studied or debuted around the world, with new medical marijuana products due to debut in Iowa soon despite federal prohibition in the United States.
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