CANNABIS CULTURE – BioHarvest has announced a major breakthrough in the development of high-density cannabis trichomes they are calling Bio-Tricho-Bubbles. By the 1st half of 2022, they are promising “a form of cannabis that the world has never seen before.”
Ilan Sobel, CEO of BioHarvest, told Cannabis Culture, “For the last 12 years we have been chipping away at mastering the development of our platform technology, biofarming.” Using this technology, BioHarvest is able to reduce the traditional production cycle by nearly 20 weeks, nearly quadrupling cultivation.
Biofarming allows them to take any active ingredient from a plant, using the plant only once to create cells, and then grow the active ingredients over 3-4 weeks in bioreactors until the desired biomass level is reached.
Bio-Tricho-Bubbles comparison – courtesy of bioharvest
While the cell grows, the natural composition of the active ingredient is maintained. “We maximize the solubility, bioavailability, and therefore efficacy of the product,” Sobel explained. “By extracting cells from a single plant, a bioreactor can produce trichomes that contain all the cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids of a regular cannabis plant.”
The cells are then harvested and dried into powder. While having a similar appearance to bubble hash, Bio-Tricho-Bubbles require no major mechanical sifting to separate the trichomes from the flower. They are quite literally bred as the final product.
“As a Biotech innovator, we carefully research what molecules or compounds are available in plants or fruits with the potential to have functional and structural impact on the human body” explained Yochi Hagay, CTO of BioHarvest. “We then not only apply our biofarming technology to produce such compounds consistently, but we conduct clinical trials to prove their efficacy before we commercialize them. We then ensure to make functional claims that are scientifically and clinically based.”
“Our approach gives us a tremendous edge in the dietary supplements and functional foods markets by availing to the consumer highly efficacious health products at the optimal quality and price.”
BioHarvest first began using their patented biofarming technology with Vinia, a dietary supplement made with the active ingredient piceid resveratrol, polyphenol extracted from red grape skin. The increased drinking of red wine daily, within moderation, has been linked to superior cardiovascular health. However, no producer currently on the market has been able to extract the polyphenols from grapes to use in dietary supplements, and instead often use Japanese knotweed.
Not only was BioHarvest able to use their breakthrough science to produce commercially viable resveratrol from red grape, their technology allowed them to increase concentration levels by nearly 100x and increase solubility by 25%.
Using biofarming, one roughly 186 cm sq bioreactor can produce the same amount of resveratrol annually as what 240,000 m sq would yield using traditional techniques. Says Sobel, “Our land utilization is way lower, our water and energy utilization is way lower, so from a sustainability perspective, there is nothing that is going to beat us.”
Sterile processes from beginning to end
Bioharvest is non-GMO and uses no solvents, chemicals, pesticides, fertilizer, or heavy metals – everything that is plaguing the industry today. With multiple peer-reviewed studies and clinical trials, 14 patents, and 12 years of research and development behind them, they decided cannabis was the next logical vertical move.
Focused largely on the medicinal space, they strive to make a positive impact on humanity. “With the amount of clinical trials that are happening now, with Pharma companies working on next-generation drugs, consistent and clean cannabis is going to be critical.”
Sobel says consistency has been the biggest challenge in the industry today. “When you talk to medicinal cannabis users, the biggest complaint is, ‘One week I am great. The next week I go and buy the same cannabis, same strain, and it is different. I don’t feel the same way.’ BioHarvest has been using the same cell reservoir for two years, and there is no reason why we cannot continue.”
“The repeated use of the same cannabis cell reservoir for two years is an unprecedented scientific achievement,” added Hagay. “Our ability to keep our cannabis cells in this ‘flowering’ stage for the past two years versus conventional periods of nine weeks demonstrates the unique efficiency of our technology and puts us on track to reach commercial production using cannabis-based compounds.”
With cost of production so low, and the unparalleled and speed and uniformity of product, Sobel stresses that they are not out to conquer the industry or take any role away from current growers. Citing hemp-based CBD as an example, he stated, “There are very specific areas of the market out there today that (growers) cannot service, and that we want to service and focus on, which has the highest utility value from an end-user perspective, and those are specifically the high-end and medicinal sides.”
“No one has been able to provide a fingerprint-consistent, clean product. The market is so big and literally only going to get bigger as we start to see the drug companies move to it and regulations change. There is plenty of space for us to operate in harmony with the current players out there, but specifically servicing critical-use cases that they cannot deliver on is a unique technology that we have today.”
“We are pioneering a path that no one has walked before, writing the Bible on how to grow cannabis through the power of liquid media.”
Pieces of the mother plant being used once to create cells
This week BioHarvest will publish their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Sustainability framework outlining their commitment and strategy for sustainability, becoming the 2nd cannabis company in the world to do so.
Sobel concluded, “We are all about being the biotech leaders of the plant kingdom while unlocking the hidden secrets of cellular biology when it comes to plants, and translating those secrets into delivering every day human utility value for consumers. Ultimately by doing that we will deliver shareholder value to our shareholder partners, but it is always human utility value first.”
“Everything we do is anchored in making a difference to the world.”
This innovative company is certainly showing themselves to be at the forefront of an entirely new way of approaching cannabis growth, and indeed could change the worlds of pharmaceuticals, supplements, and any other industry where isolating and growing quality active ingredients in a clean, quick, and uniform way is a priority.
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