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Algae Dynamics Corp. (OTCQB: ADYNF) |
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April 17, 2017 Issue |
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CEOCFO MAGAZINE |
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Cannabis and Algae Oil used in Developing Unique Health Products and Pharmaceuticals |
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Interview with:
Paul Ramsay (BBA), Co-Founder & President Algae Dynamics Corp. (OTCQB: ADYNF)
Richard Rusiniak Paul Ramsay (BBA)
Interview conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFO Magazine, Published – April 17, 2017
CEOCFO: Mr. Ramsay, what is the main focus at Algae Dynamics today? Mr. Ramsay: Our main focus is to produce products derived from cannabis and algae oil compounds. What is really special about this is that we are working with two prominent universities; the University of Waterloo and the University of Western Ontario. We work with researchers that are looking at the medical benefits with cannabis oils and algae oils.
CEOCFO: How does your approach differ from what other companies might be trying? Mr. Ramsay: We are taking it from a high level, a scientific level, from the top down. Therefore, we are starting with, as I mentioned earlier, the two universities, The University of Waterloo and Western University, with professors that have a lot of expertise in this area. Then we are bringing it down to the next level. Actually, the press release just came out half an hour ago. We just signed an agreement with an established lab oil extractor that is approved by Health Canada. Therefore, this company is going to be supplying extracts to the universities. Also, we are able to process cannabis dried product from licensed producers and introduce extracted products to the market place through licensed producers.
CEOCFO: What is wrong with how cannabis oil is produced today? Why do we need a better way? Mr. Rusiniak: Previously, cold pressed hemp oil was simply pressed from the plant, but this process produces hemp oil with lower concentrations of essential oils. Today, extracting cannabis oil using the supercritical CO2 method is the way to go. This process is a low temperature process and all the ingredients, such as terpenes and cannabinoids are maintained in their natural state. They are not altered during the extraction process. Using this process is possible to do selective extractions.
CEOCFO: Have there been combinations of cannabis oil and algae oil or is that a newer approach? Mr. Rusiniak: At this time, we are not aware of anyone else who has successfully combined cannabis oil with algae oil. According to the researchers, especially the professor at Western University who is researching the effect on brain function. There are two receptors; CB1 and CB2 receptors. Because of the lifestyle of many people those receptors have become a little bit weaker. They are not responding properly to medications. One of the ways that you can fix this is by using DHA oil, which is the Omega-3 oil from Algae. That is because our cannabinoid system is supported by Essential Fatty Acids, which is oil from algae or fish oil.
CEOCFO: What is the timetable? What do you expect in terms of the research? What kind of programs are you working on? Mr. Rusiniak: There are two programs from two universities. One university is for four years, the other one is for three years. Our immediate objective is to formulate and develop products for the nutraceutical market. This could happen anytime. Our long term objective is to develop products for the pharmaceutical market. We are working on two platforms. One is on depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and schizophrenia. The other is on cancers of the colorectum, pancreas, breast and prostate.
CEOCFO: What are the challenges in the research? Mr. Ramsay: There are all types of challenges. With the University of Waterloo this is cannabis research for cancer; Algae Dynamics’ commitment of $600,000 over a three-year period. With the University of Western Ontario, it is cannabis for novel pharma therapeutics for mental health; that is a commitment from Algae Dynamics of one million dollars over a four-year period. On top of that we just signed this collaboration agreement with a company approved by Health Canada to extract, purify, manufacture, sell, and import/export medical marijuana products. We just signed that yesterday. Therefore, to answer your question, there are challenges, but we know our limitations as a company. We surround ourselves with the best of the best. If you look at the researchers at both universities, plus the company, approved by Health Canada, that we just signed an agreement with, a state of the art facility that has lab capabilities as well as manufacturing capabilities, speaks for itself. There will be challenges, but we believe we have a team around us and the support to overcome any obstacles.
CEOCFO: Why have you decided that now is the time or a few months back to get in to this arena? What went into that decision for you both? Mr. Ramsay: As you probably know, we were an algae company. We signed a deal with an investment firm in New York to raise three million dollars to execute our algae commercialization plan. With the advice of our strategic advisors, we chose to expand our platform to include extraction of cannabis oils. This strategic decision happened last November. The same equipment to extract algae oil is the same for cannabis oil.” Therefore, we transformed our company and now…. here we are today. We have the two university programs and we have this engagement with a cannabis extractor and a lab approved by Health Canada. We just transformed!
CEOCFO: It is exciting for you! Mr. Ramsay: Very! It is hard to sleep sometimes!
CEOCFO: Where does your previous experience come into play? What do you understand about developing a company, that perhaps you did not understand as well the first time? Mr. Ramsay: As you know, Richard and I have been business partners for over twenty-five years. We went through the process of taking a technology from a lab. We had a basic fabrication company at the time where we were dealing with Northern Telecom, Astra Pharma and Ontario Hydro; fabricating material handling products. We were working on a project with Anheuser Busch in St Louis and they recommended that we talk to Alcan International Research in Kingston, Ontario. We approached them and acquired the Aluminum Foam technology for US$300,000 and, that was at that time. We took it from the lab and Richard commercialized the technology. We did this on a budget of roughly three million dollars. This time around we are supported by investment advisors and colleagues who share the same vision and work with us in tandem to build on our strategic plan.
CEOCFO: Do you see eventually going into the United States or is it too early to think about that?
Mr. Ramsay:
We always think
about it, Lynn! We cannot help ourselves! It is a consideration, only, only,
only; and I say this many fold, if we are totally, totally compliant with US
federal laws. CEOCFO: Are you convinced that medical marijuana will continue to grow, that people will understand, rather than a backlash going in the other direction? Mr. Ramsay: I think it is inevitable. There is so much compelling information and data out there, yet there still needs to be more; hence our projects with both universities. However, you know Lynn, it would be great if, and we could set this up, if you actually talk to both professors; Professor and Neuroscientist, Dr. Steven Laviolette in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University and Professor Jonathan Blay, Professor of Pharmacy, at the University of Waterloo and Professor of Pathology, Dalhousie University, and, you will get a true scientific, in depth answer.
CEOCFO: What is your funding situation? Mr. Ramsay: We do have an agreement with an investment firm, Midtown Partners out of New York. We are dealing with the CEO, John Clarke. We intend to raise a couple of million dollars, a million to three million, to facilitate the execution of our plan, which is to fund both universities and to position ourselves to take advantage of opportunities with licensed growers.
CEOCFO: Is there much meaningful research regarding medical use? What are your research people building on or are they looking at it perhaps from a different perspective? Mr. Ramsay: Going back to Professor Steven Laviolette at Western University, he spent fifteen years working with the compounds extracted from cannabis. He is working with the most common ones, CBD and THC. He has found that there are some significant benefits to this from a medical standpoint. As I said earlier, we must do more research. However, he has gathered a data bank, if you will, of research papers, and results from clinical studies. However again, more must be done.
CEOCFO: What is happening day-to-day at Algae Dynamics? Mr. Ramsay: We have been and are building on our strategic plan. We are going to rebuild our website to convey all of our developments. We are just basically giving ourselves a complete makeover. We are in dialog with licensed and prelicensed growers in the industry. We have had several meetings and continue to seek possible collaboration, supply agreements or investments, hence, those funds would come from monies raised from Midtown Partners.
CEOCFO: How do you standout to potential investors? Mr. Rusiniak: The number one thing is that we have a very low burn rate and our platform facilitates several potential sources of revenue. A lot of companies are growing cannabis for smoking. According our researchers, smoking, basically, is the worst application for medicine from all of the applications. Therefore, right now we are looking to see what options are available. To find the proper method of application we are searching for existing and new technologies in this field. We have a clean lab in our facility and we can do some experimentation with different oils to support our research programs with professors. We could do this in-house as specialized projects. At this time, we are not spending money for growing, but for research and development. That differentiates us from anybody else.
CEOCFO: There are lots of companies to look at as investment choices in cannabinoids and choices in healthcare. Why pay attention right now to Algae Dynamics? Mr. Ramsay: People should pay attention to us because we have many parallels taking place. It is actually not just research, because people look at most universities as just doing research. We are doing research and product development. These professors and their teams; focus is in creating products that are developed from molecules and compounds extracted from cannabis in isolation or cannabis compounds with algae oil and possibly other botanicals. I forgot to mention that hemp is in there as well. Professor Steven Laviolette has been working with both cannabis and hemp oils. In hemp, as you can appreciate, the main compound is CBD. Therefore, we have that happening. We have this licensed lab/manufacturing company that we have this agreement with. They are involved with extraction, purification, formulation and as I mentioned earlier, manufacturing, selling and importing/exporting medical marijuana products. Therefore, we have that happening. When we actually move forward as per our plan we are going to expand. We are working from the top down. We are going to be working with selected growers and to collaborate, possibly extract their dry cannabis or select different strains. Therefore, we have a whole umbrella of sources of strains. It is a win for us and it is a win for the growers.
Mr. Rusiniak: We just came back from a very informative conference in San Diego, where we met some knowledgeable and great people. They are very, very experienced and are willing to help us in the selection of cannabis strains and extracted compounds. The fact that our new collaboration company can import, we could reach out to our colleagues in the US for continued support. |
“Our main focus is to produce products derived from cannabis and algae oil compounds. What is really special about this is that we are working with two prominent universities; the University of Waterloo and the University of Western Ontario.”- Paul Ramsay (BBA)
Algae Dynamics Corp. (OTCQB: ADYNF)
Contact: Paul Ramsay 289-997-6740
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