Irish start-up raises €500k to explore the therapeutic benefits of cannabis

Irish pharmaceutical start-up GreenLight Medicines has just raised €500,000 from Irish investors to further its research into cannabis extractions.

This second phase of fund-raising follows an initial round of €100,000 in seed capital, which will be used to investigate how cannabis extracts can cure certain diseases.

GreenLight will not be using cannabis directly, but CBD oil derived from hemp, which is legal in Ireland. Cannabidiol (or CBD) is a cannabinoid with high recognized therapeutic properties and used to treat epilepsy, arthritis and muscular pain (e.g. multiple sclerosis).

The company, based in Wicklow, south of Dublin, was founded last year. «We've spent the last 24 months developing research programs with many universities in Ireland, and this month sees the first part of our projects come to fruition,» says Dr James Linden, founder of GreenLight Medicines.

In addition to this fund-raising, the American-Swiss company Isodiol has pledged 1.25 million euros in CBD oil over a 5-year period to support research.

GreenLight is the first Irish pharmaceutical company to focus on the production and sale of cannabinoid molecules. Its ambition is to rapidly become a world leader in the field, and in the long term it hopes to be able to supply effective and profitable medicines.

The company has a team of internationally renowned researchers and scientists. However, the first products are not yet ready for the market. «Clinical trials generally last 5 years and cost from 7 to 10 million per drug. That's why these two investment phases were essential to further GreenLight's vision,» explains CFO Patrick Deasy.

Enough to overshadow its British neighbor GW Pharmaceutical? Not yet. GW is already a step ahead, working genuinely with cannabis, not just hemp, and combining THC with CBD in its Sativex, for example. Current research points to a therapeutic effect stimulated by the presence of both cannabinoids, called entourage effect. Some patients also report better results when their cannabis contains THC, even at levels that don't necessarily produce a psychoactive effect.