Chanelle McCoy to launch CBD pharma company in Galway
CHANELLE McCoy, who co-founded pharmaceutical company Chanelle Medical, has formed a separate firm focused on developing pharmaceutical-grade cannabidiol (CBD).
McCoy, who is the daughter of Chanelle Group founder Michael Burke, set up CMC Pharma last month. The new firm, which will sit separately to her family’s business, will include a subsidiary devoted to the research, development and sale of CBD products.
Speaking to the Sunday Independent, McCoy said the firm had formulated an “ultra-pure synthetic” CBD, meaning it will not contain THC, the illegal component of cannabis, or other pollutants. According to McCoy, who is a former judge on RTÉ’s Dragons’ Den, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the material.
The synthetic CBD has been developed by creating a copy of the plant’s DNA, which is then reproduced in a laboratory and mass-manufactured. CMC Pharma is to produce the product in Ireland, with a base in Loughrea, Co Galway.
“We are a responsible pharmaceutical company that operates to medicinal quality and safety standards,” said McCoy. “Also, as our source is readily reproducible with no batch variability, we can scale up to significant volumes, with no reliance on weather or soil conditions, as what you might observe with a natural plant source.”
McCoy said the company had been testing the product at a university in Edinburgh since March, in order to affirm its safety for human use.
She also plans to work with an unnamed university in Ireland to test the efficacy of the CMC Pharma CBD product.
Separate to the CBD business, CMC Pharma has also secured the right to distribute SugarWatch, a needle-free glucose monitoring device for diabetics, across the island of Ireland.