SAN RAFAEL, Calif.,
Feb. 24, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ --
Michael Moskowitz, MD, MPH and
Randy Perretta of Anandamedicine,
Bill Heriot of Liposome Formulations
Inc, George Bianchini of Medi-Cone
and Leonard Leinow of Synergy
Wellness have joined to form the Medical Cannabis Research
Consortium of Marin (MCRCM). These
five long-term Marin County
residents are making Marin County
the national research center for vertically integrated medical
cannabis research, maintaining California's innovative leadership in
establishing, maintaining and evolving medical cannabis as an
effective, patient-centered treatment. Dr. Moskowitz stated, "We
found each other through the research each of us has been doing
with medical cannabis. We are researching it from seed to
symptom."
Dr. Moskowitz, the author of Medical Cannabis: A Guide for
Patients, Practitioners and Caregivers is a Pain Medicine and
Psychiatric practitioner. He wrote this book to bring together the
most current research on medical cannabis with this rapidly
developing, patient-led treatment. He learned that there was
excellent pharmacological science, but scant clinical research or
medical guidance. "Great preliminary work had been done. Now we
have a plant with so many independent and synergistic
pharmacological effects, but only minimal clinical research or
mainstream medical involvement." He has lectured across the country
on medical cannabis and has integrated treatment with it deeply
into his pain treatment practice. "The results of using cannabis
with my patients and bringing to bear the latest research with
traditional medical treatment has been one of the most rewarding
experiences of my professional life." Dr. Moskowitz has been
conducting a prospective clinical case series for the last two and
one half years, following 157 patients for an average of 18.5
months using medical cannabis to treat chronic pain and mood
disorders. 86.9% of these patients have reduced pain and 66.1% of
these patients using long term opioid treatment were able to lower
their opioids, using medical cannabis. Similar improvements were
seen with sleep, anxiety and quality of life.
George Bianchini felt that this
was an underutilized treatment and decided to do something about
it. He started growing and crossing strains with medically active
cannabinoids that are extremely rare, creating several medical
strains that have yielded a treasure trove of unique cannabinoid
profiles. "I decided to breed the medical back into cannabis,
because it had been systematically removed to develop stronger
highs. He established himself as an up and coming leader in the
medical cannabis community in 2008 when he launched Medi-Cone and
began winning awards for his high quality medicine. One of Mr.
Bianchini's most unusual strains, Black Beauty, comes from a
sub-Saharan African parent plant and is extremely high in
Tetrahydrocannabivarin a very medical cannabinoid, completely
absent in more than 99% of strains. "I've crossed it with many
strains. I've gotten particularly interesting cannabinoid profiles
crossing it with Industrial Hemp." Mr. Bianchini has developed a
Private outdoor research and conservation growing area,
incorporating aquaculture and aquaponics for extreme water
conservation and non-toxic pest control. He uses principles dating
back to Newton and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. "There is a
great deal of knowledge, going back centuries, in how to grow green
in times where crop failure was synonymous with starvation."
Bill Heriot has been a pioneer in
chemical, pharmaceuticals and the development of pharmaceutical
companies, here in Marin County.
He is the co-founder of Omniglow Corp, a manufacturer of
chemiluminescent lightsticks and glow devices. Omniglow was a
contractor for the Department of Defense for both gulf wars
producing chemiluminescent devices for the military. His scientific
background and insatiable curiosity are rooted in his UC Berkeley
education in chemistry and biochemistry. He has founded, owned and
run several successful pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
Mr. Heriot's current company Liposome Formulations, Inc gives him
ownership of 9 international patents for delivering various
substances 4-5 times faster and more efficiently than in normal
oral absorption. He has used his manufacturing technique to deliver
supplements and Vitamin C, as well as drugs for osteoarthritis that
are currently in clinical trials with FDA. The various cannabinoids
lend themselves well to this process and the city of Novato has granted Liposome Formulations Inc a
manufacturing license to research and produce Medical Cannabis as a
pharmaceutical. Mr. Heriot notes, "Creating new delivery systems
for the various plant based cannabinoids opens up whole new
possibilities to develop pharmaceutical grade medicine."
Leonard Leinow, the author of: (A
Patient's Guide to Medical Cannabis, Healing Without the High,) has
been promoting, growing and breeding plants for the last decade. He
is dedicated to medical cannabis as a treatment for patients of
Synergy Wellness. "84% of the sales at Synergy Wellness are not
psychoactive. He has gathered feedback on what works medically,
from Synergy's members. Additionally, Mr. Leinow has researched the
literature on the medical benefits of cannabis, sharing this
information with his staff, patients and the general public. He has
more strains of low to no psychoactive plants than any dispensary
in California, despite being
smaller in patient base compared to most of them. Mr. Leinow, who
has an engineering background, has been a pioneer in cannabinoid
research as well as delivery systems for medical cannabis. He
approaches each client from a physical, mental, emotional and
spiritual perspective to create guidance tailored to the individual
needs. He works with the life-force energy and the spirit of the
cannabis plant, using meticulous organic and ecologically sound
practices.
Randy Perretta is a systems and
computer analyst and scientist, who has managed huge projects for
aerospace, oil and gas, large scale manufacturing projects,
business process development and data management. He is an expert
in computer programming and secure database development. "The only
way to get useful information about medical cannabis use is to
collect, store, secure and evaluate large sets of data." Mr.
Perretta has developed granular search techniques that allow for
big data to be quickly analyzed to identify trends, as well as
clinical similarities and differences. "Applying these techniques
to crowd sourced data can yield more reliable information to
determine pharmacologic properties of strains, individual
cannabinoids and cannabinoid synergies." He brings his data,
business and software skills to bear in the consortium where, using
the latest data engines, he is developing a state of the art custom
search engine and data repository capable of processing real time
patient data and collecting clinical data worldwide. It will
feature an analytics capability for profiles, symptoms and
treatments heretofore unseen in the cannabis world.
The consortium is working with city governments in Marin to position the county to develop and
integrate agricultural and clinical research with its budding
pharmaceutical business development. "We formed this consortium to
research all of the cannabinoids that have known pharmacologic
properties. To accomplish this we need the skills and experience of
all involved. The ability to design plants, preserve their
genetics, cross breed them with cannabis and hemp, research and
develop new pharmacologic delivery systems, manufacture and deliver
products , perform clinical research and collect and use data
requires much more than any one person can provide," noted Mr.
Perretta.
So how did an internationally known pain medicine and
psychiatric physician and teacher, a systems based technology
expert with deep skills in software, hardware and large scale
database development and management, a pharmaceutical delivery
system, manufacturer, chemist and defense contractor and two
pioneering cannabis breeders, with deep roots in the medical
cannabis community get together and why? The answer is simple.
Medical Cannabis, as a treatment made sense to all of them before
they met, and once each connected with the other, the bond was
instant and "just feels right," according to Mr. Leinow. Each had
established themselves in their own fields and felt it was time to
apply their multidisciplinary skillsets to the issue of researching
the medicinal qualities of cannabis, in order to help develop
improved ways of delivering treatment options for patients seeking
a more effective and collaborative type of care.
"For me the pieces just all fell together. Leonard and George
were in the medical cannabis business for all the right reasons and
had each developed incredible strains. Randy had highly
sophisticated skills for collecting and analyzing the data and Bill
had this amazing pharmaceutical operation. The businesses weren't
located all over the world. They were right here in Marin County," observed Dr. Moskowitz. Mr.
Heriot stated, "We have taken unique strains and are sequencing
their genomes, while preserving them with tissue culture. In the
meantime we are developing clinical research models that establish
new paradigms. It's a really great story." Mr. Bianchini has been
very visible in promoting the cause of medical cannabis and has
taken tremendous risks to his own welfare to be a strong advocate
for its use. "The development of recreational cannabis in the state
provides an opportunity for the medical dispensaries to work more
closely with patients who are looking for more. I have been
developing unique medical strains and they need to be studied to
see what they can really provide as medicines." Mr. Leinow has
dedicated his work with medical cannabis to finding ways to use it
for treatment , while not needing to be impaired. "THC is a great
medicinal cannabinoid, but there is no way to make this a
mainstream treatment, if people have to be high all of the time."
His interest in pursuing his research and blending this with the
rest of the consortium's work is to help answer the questions he
has heard over the years from the patients at his dispensary. "What
works for a headache?" How can I take this without being altered.?"
"Can it help with my cancer symptoms and side effects?" "Which
cannabinoid is more medicinal?" "What can the other cannabinoids do
to help?"
The Medical Cannabis Research Consortium of Marin formed to look at all aspects of medical
cannabis. All involved are strongly attached to their lives and
businesses in Marin County and
feel that with this group and the county's interest in providing
the best healthcare for its citizens, a mutually beneficial plan
makes great sense. Dr. Moskowitz stated, "Look, it's in everyone's
interest in the country to have high quality research on medical
cannabis from the way it is grown, combined and refined to the
effects it has on health. This is probably the most medicinal plant
on this planet, and it must be studied. Since we have all of the
elements to do so, we're going to do our research and development
in Marin County."
Feb 17, 2018
Notice of book signings,
Medical Cannabis: A Guide for Patients, Practitioners and
Caregivers
Meet, Author Dr. Moskowitz on Friday,
February 23, 6pm 2018 Cibo1201
Bridgeway Sausalito,
A Patient's Guide To Medical Cannabis
Meet, Author Leonard Leinow and Juliana
Birnbaum
on Sunday, March 4th 1pm at Book Passage in Corte Madera
Contact info:
Dr. "Michael Moskowitz"
mmoskowitz(at)neuroplastix(dot)com
"Bill Heriot"
niaid(at)well(dot)com
"Leonard Leinow"
leonard(at)synergycbd(dot)com
Randy Perretta"
randy(at)perretta(dot)net
George Bianchini
george(at)medi-cone(dot)com
SOURCE The Medical Cannabis Research Consortium of Marin