We speak to Michael Tan, COO of Numinus, about their Health Canada licencing amendment…
Yesterday, Numinus announced that Health Canada has approved an amendment to the Company’s existing Licence under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act. You can read the full release here. The amendment allows Numinus researchers to investigate ways of standardising the extraction of psilocybin from mushrooms.
This makes Numinus the first publicly-traded company in Canada to be granted a licence by Health Canada to conduct research of this nature.
Crucially, this allows the Company to produce naturally-sourced, sustainable psilocybin for research purposes as opposed to using synthetic substances.
We spoke to Michael Tan, COO of Numinus, and asked him why it’s so important to be able to extract psilocybin from mushrooms when it can be produced synthetically. “Synthetic compounds are safe, but the production can be elaborate and costly given the complexity of the process and the need to ensure safety,” said Tan. “Standardized extraction from mushrooms could be less costly and produce a sufficient supply with fewer resources. In comparison to pure compounds, it could be more effective.”
A standardized extraction method forms the basis of further product development research on things like scalability, formulation, comparative studies of extracts vs synthetics or extracts vs pure compounds.
We then asked Michael Tan about the timelines involved in developing and actioning the “proprietary extraction method from mushrooms” described in their press release. They responded: “There are lots of things to consider on the timing of this, but it will largely depend on the results of the research that we’ll be undertaking. Ultimately, the goal is to develop a scalable and stable extraction method.”
There is some confusion surrounding whether this licencing would allow Numinus to sell, or share, the psilocybin it extracts from natural sources with other Companies and organisations. Tan confirmed that the answer is no, explaining “psilocybin produced by Numinus under this licence will only be used for our research purposes.”
However, Numinus did say that they aim to provide psilocybin extract as part of their broader business model, “first in support of research and clinical studies, and ultimately as an alternative product for psychedelics assisted therapies.”
Finally, we asked Tan to clarify the types of IP that are now permissible under the licence. Numinus confirmed that they are looking to use the amended licence to develop IP related to the standardized extraction of psilocybin, explaining: “A standardized extraction method forms the basis of further product development research on things like scalability, formulation, comparative studies of extracts vs synthetics or extracts vs pure compounds.”
