Cannabis-like plant generates hope in Brazil – 7/4/2023 – Science

In a discreet laboratory on a campus of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), molecular biologist Rodrigo Moura Neto carries out experiments with an ordinary-looking plant that holds a secret.

the species trema micrantha blumea fast-growing plant, is native to the Americas, where it is widely found and often considered a weed.

However, Moura Neto recently discovered that its berries and flowers contain one of marijuana’s active ingredients: cannabidiol, or CBD, which has shown promise in treating conditions such as epilepsy, autism, anxiety and chronic pain.

The researcher also found that the plant does not contain the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.

This opens up the possibility of a revolution: having a new and plentiful source of CBD, without the complications of using cannabis, which is illegal in many countries.

The discovery turned Moura Neto into something of an academic star, an affable 66-year-old man with gray hair whose schedule is full of meetings with patent specialists and companies interested in tapping into the billion-dollar CBD market.

“For me, it was a prize to find a plant (with CBD, but) that didn’t have THC, because you get rid of all the psychotropic stuff,” says Moura Neto, who has spent most of the last five decades researching in this small lab. .

“The potential is huge,” he told AFP.

His team of ten researchers recently received R$500,000 in public funds to expand their project, which will now seek to identify the best methods to extract CBD from Trema and study its effectiveness as a substitute for marijuana for medicinal purposes.

“Magic Plant”

Many of CBD’s medicinal uses are still being investigated.

The substance is controversial even in Brazil, where many patients have gone to court to use it, or have paid high prices to import it.

Growing medical marijuana is illegal in the country, although Congress is considering a bill that could change that.

The demand for CBD is on the rise in the world: this market reached almost US$ 5 billion (R$ 24 billion) in 2022. health and wellness.

The interest in Moura Neto’s research has been “enormous”, says Rosane Silva, director of his laboratory, which is located in a corridor full of students and researchers in white coats.

“Many companies are already calling us to collaborate” on an eventual drug with CBD, says Silva, alongside what she calls a “magic plant”.

A member of the Cannabaceous family, like cannabis, Trema can grow into a tree up to 20 meters tall.

Moura Neto is considering the possibility of patenting any innovation to extract CBD from its small fruits and flowers, but adds that he will not do this with the plant itself, because he wants the scientific community to be able to research it.

“If I dreamed of being a billionaire, I wouldn’t have pursued a teaching career,” he says.

From the laboratory to the market?

Forensic geneticist, Moura Neto started studying CBD to collaborate with the police: he analyzed the DNA of seized marijuana to trace its origin.

When he came across a study that identified the presence of CBD in a plant in Thailand, also from the Cannabaceae family, he had the idea of ​​looking for it in Trema.

According to Moura Neta, transforming his discovery —not yet published in a scientific journal— into a commercial medicine could take from five to ten years. He is aware, however, that Trema’s CBD may also not work as well, or not at all, as that of cannabis.

And he rules out smoking the plant to get a psychoactive effect. “It’s no use,” he laughs.