Welcome to Research Base Camp

by Justyn Bostic
10.05.2021
Author: Dave Neundorfer
Oct 5, 2021 – 8 min read

OBX served as the headline sponsor of the International Cannabinoid Derived Pharmaceutical conference in Boston.

You read that correctly, OBX, a health-and-wellness cannabinoid producer and formulator which serves leading consumer product brands in the CBD, THC, CPG, and Nutraceutical markets, sponsored a pharma conference.

On the first day of the conference, we were viewed with suspicion by our pharma friends, who historically place consumer product and nutraceutical companies on the outer fringes of legitimacy. We understand this bias based on the well-documented historical cannabinoid product inconsistencies, labeling anomalies, and unfounded medical claims made by unscrupulous operators.

We started OBX to raise the bar for quality, consistency, and transparency. We based on our success in attracting and serving the market’s leading brands, we can confidently say that the market is undergoing a flight to quality and graduating from its cottage industry underpinning.

In the process of raising the bar for the consumer product industry, we have made it to what we call “research base camp” and at the iCDP conference invited university researchers, private drug developers, and global pharma companies to leverage our pharma-grade products to accelerate their ascent. 

At first, this invitation was met with skepticism. Is OBX an API producer? No. Are we a drug developer? No. Have we taken these cannabinoids through full clinical trials? No. 

But, do we have pharmaceutical-grade minor cannabinoids that most researchers have only read about? Absolutely, here they are:

This display created quite a stir.

Here’s why.

First, pure minors are hard to come by, and a full collection of pure minors is even more elusive, especially from a cGMP-certified producer. Our goal in showcasing these minors and sponsoring the iCDP conference was threefold:

  1. Demonstrate that OBX is not your average cannabinoid producer: we’ve leaned hard into chemistry-heavy, sophisticated production and purification efforts to bring these products to market.

     

  2. Give our clients the tools needed to differentiate their products: CBD ran a great first leg of the non-THC cannabinoid race, but we couldn’t be more excited about featuring the minor cannabinoids and combinations thereof to enhance the entourage effect, deliver need state-focused formulations, and break out of the “it’s CBD, use it for everything” phase of the market. Our clients want formulations and inputs that simply work–we are uniquely positioned to deliver that efficacy and differentiation.

     

  3. Accelerate the diversity and breadth of cannabinoid research: OBX is investing in safety and stability studies for our lineup of cannabinoids in addition to efficacy studies for our proprietary formulations. But we are also investing in clinical trials that feature the minors, and are arming some of the world’s best researchers and research institutions with the cannabinoids that will deepen and broaden the list of therapeutic benefits and disease and disorder treatments. 

That last point was the kicker. There are 10’s of millions of “subjects” worldwide who are consuming cannabinoids on a daily basis with overwhelmingly positive results. This dynamic turns the traditional pharmaceutical model on its ear as we have access to real-world feedback in parallel to pharmaceutical investigations that start in cells and move to rodents.

As a consumer product market leader offering pure minor cannabinoids, we see this feedback first hand which gives us visibility into commercial trends and differentiated delivery and formulation technology that can and should be leveraged to accelerate insights, hypotheses, and formulations for CPGs and drug development and indication discovery for pharma companies.

Researchers at leading research institutions, including Florida A&M, Harvard, and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, are exploring minor cannabinoids’ effectiveness in treating cancer to neuroinflammation. These studies are exploratory in nature and nearly all in vitro, but the sparks flying and the number of universities we serve is growing.

The gap in the number of research articles, patents filed and clinical trials underway between the leading cannabinoids–THC and CBD–and the minor cannabinoids is clear.

This data is not surprising. CBD and THC occur naturally in the largest percentages in Cannabis Sativa strains, they’re easy to extract and purify, and there exist large, commercial markets that incentivize research through monetization and funding opportunities.

While the market for minors is still in its infancy, we are seeing in real-time the demand curve bend as brands and consumers discover the perceptible and differentiated benefits unlocked with the recent commercial availability of pure minor cannabinoids. 

OBX’s real world anecdotal evidence we receive from our clients and their consumers combined with our internal ingredient safety and formulation efficacy tests coupled with university-led exploratory research gives us the knowledge needed to develop industry-leading formulations for the CPG wellness market while also paving the way for pre-clinical pharmaceutical research, indications, and intellectual property.

We are excited for researchers and formulators to know about and leverage this access. With conference season upon us, various members of our team have served on panels and given talks to share the path we’ve paved to “research base camp” and invite CPG clients, university researchers, and pharma companies to join us. 

We want to be your sherpa, and we are demonstrating that we have the tools needed for your ascent. Come see us and take a picture of the future, everyone else is.

Author: Dave Neundorfer
Oct 5, 2021 – 8 min read

‘OBX served as the headline sponsor of the International Cannabinoid Derived Pharmaceutical conference in Boston.

You read that correctly, OBX, a health-and-wellness cannabinoid producer and formulator which serves leading consumer product brands in the CBD, THC, CPG, and Nutraceutical markets, sponsored a pharma conference. 

On the first day of the conference, we were viewed with suspicion by our pharma friends, who historically place consumer product and nutraceutical companies on the outer fringes of legitimacy. We understand this bias based on the well-documented historical cannabinoid product inconsistencies, labeling anomalies, and unfounded medical claims made by unscrupulous operators.

We started OBX to raise the bar for quality, consistency, and transparency. We based on our success in attracting and serving the market’s leading brands, we can confidently say that the market is undergoing a flight to quality and graduating from its cottage industry underpinning.

In the process of raising the bar for the consumer product industry, we have made it to what we call “research base camp” and at the iCDP conference invited university researchers, private drug developers, and global pharma companies to leverage our pharma-grade products to accelerate their ascent. 

At first, this invitation was met with skepticism. Is OBX an API producer? No. Are we a drug developer? No. Have we taken these cannabinoids through full clinical trials? No. 

But, do we have pharmaceutical grade minor cannabinoids that most researchers have only read about? Absolutely, here they are:

This display created quite a stir. 

Here’s why. 

First, pure minors are hard to come by, and a full collection of pure minors is even more elusive, especially from a cGMP-certified producer. Our goal in showcasing these minors and sponsoring the iCDP conference was threefold: 

  1. Demonstrate that OBX is not your average cannabinoid producer: we’ve leaned hard into chemistry-heavy, sophisticated production and purification efforts to bring these products to market. 
  2. Give our clients the tools needed to differentiate their products: CBD ran a great first leg of the non-THC cannabinoid race, but we couldn’t be more excited about featuring the minor cannabinoids and combinations thereof to enhance the entourage effect, deliver need state-focused formulations, and break out of the “it’s CBD, use it for everything” phase of the market. Our clients want formulations and inputs that simply work–we are uniquely positioned to deliver that efficacy and differentiation.
  3. Accelerate the diversity and breadth of cannabinoid research: OBX is investing in safety and stability studies for our lineup of cannabinoids in addition to efficacy studies for our proprietary formulations. But we are also investing in clinical trials that feature the minors, and are arming some of the world’s best researchers and research institutions with the cannabinoids that will deepen and broaden the list of therapeutic benefits and disease and disorder treatments. 

That last point was the kicker. There are 10’s of millions “subjects” worldwide who are consuming cannabinoids on a daily basis with overwhelmingly positive results. This dynamic turns the traditional pharmaceutical model on its ear as we have access to real world feedback in parallel to pharmaceutical investigations that start in cells and move to rodents. 

As a consumer product market leader offering pure minor cannabinoids, we see this feedback first hand which gives us visibility into commercial trends and differentiated delivery and formulation technology that can and should be leveraged to accelerate insights, hypotheses, and formulations for CPGs and drug development and indication discovery for pharma companies.

Researchers at leading research institutions, including Florida A&M, Harvard, and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, are exploring minor cannabinoids’ effectiveness in treating cancer to neuroinflammation. These studies are exploratory in nature and nearly all in vitro, but the sparks flying and the number of universities we serve is growing. 

The gap in the number of research articles, patents filed and clinical trials underway between the leading cannabinoids–THC and CBD–and the minor cannabinoids is clear. 

This data is not surprising. CBD and THC occur naturally in the largest percentages in Cannabis Sativa strains, they’re easy to extract and purify, and there exist large, commercial markets that incentivize research through monetization and funding opportunities.

While the market for minors is still in its infancy, we are seeing in real-time the demand curve bend as brands and consumers discover the perceptible and differentiated benefits unlocked with the recent commercial availability of pure minor cannabinoids. 

OBX’s real world anecdotal evidence we receive from our clients and their consumers combined with our internal ingredient safety and formulation efficacy tests coupled with university-led exploratory research gives us the knowledge needed to develop industry-leading formulations for the CPG wellness market while also paving the way for pre-clinical pharmaceutical research, indications, and intellectual property.

We are excited for researchers and formulators to know about and leverage this access. With conference season upon us, various members of our team have served on panels and given talks to share the path we’ve paved to “research base camp” and invite CPG clients, university researchers, and pharma companies to join us. 

We want to be your sherpa, and we are demonstrating that we have the tools needed for your ascent. Come see us and take a picture of the future, everyone else is.

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