Canadian firm Core One Labs Inc., based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has told the media that it will be able to set up the country's first commercial psilocybin mushroom production facility in early 2023.
"The main objective of this venture will be to provide private and public projects aimed at the study of natural psilocybin and psilocin in clinical settings," CEO of the company, Joel Shacker, tells reporters.
“By the beginning of the year, the plantation will be able to provide the needs of such groups with a natural product of high quality and concentration of psychoactive substances on a variety of scales.”
“In general, we have high hopes for this market, as well as the prospects associated with it, such as expanding reforms to full legalization or the possibility of entering the international level,” he also noted.
Back in October last year, company representatives informed the media about the start of work on the enterprise and its certification in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards. At the same time, the company announced that the production forces of the enterprise would be quite enough not only to supply scientific groups, but also to serve the regulated psilocybin market, at least at the level of one province, with the ability to provide the product at an affordable price to any social groups.
Separately, it is worth noting that Core One representatives also oversee the development of the clinical research itself regarding psilocybin and psilocin, and also lobby for legislation that supports such research and the possibility of using these substances in medicine. In light of the imminent opening of the facility, the company announced that its subsidiary, Vocan Biotechnologies, has invented an innovative technology for the synthesis of psilocybin using bacteria. Accordingly, the company plans to patent this technology and the right to produce psilocybin with it, as part of the regulated active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production certificate. In the long run, the company will be able to take a place in the market for both natural and synthetic psilocybin in this way, having access to different regions of the country, regardless of the restrictions of local legislation.
In particular, the presence of a patent for the supply of extracts to private clinics will allow the company to enter the Alberta market, where the use of psychoactive substances for therapeutic purposes has been officially allowed since October.