Commercially relevant natural products and strategies to ensure quality

忠诚者学院将利用ARTP资金推动我们在天然产品和大麻部门与中小型企业的工作。我们将与工业界合作，克服具体挑战，例如缺乏支持产品开发的研究和标准，特别是受管制和受管制的物质，以及在处理天然产品和/或大麻时面临的化学挑战，以及产品的保质期和稳定性未知。法律、政治和复杂的社会因素造成了更好地了解这些部门植物的复杂性以及为商业市场开发产品的实际挑战所需的有限的基础和应用研究。此外，在设计新产品时，关于成分的兼容性的数据有限，再加上加工、包装和储存对活性成分随时间的影响的不确定性。这是一个关键的信息鸿沟，加拿大人需要解决这个问题，才能成为开发高质量产品的创新者，并让消费者了解产品的含义。我们的计划是通过专注于特定行业的应用研究项目来解决这一差距。我们将探索天然产品和大麻部门的成分兼容性、测试方法规范和控制、保质期以及产品和包装的稳定性。为了做到这一点，我们将创建一个研究计划，旨在帮助那些除了面临其他挑战之外，可能缺乏财力或获得传统资金或资助计划的公司的研发(R&D)需求。项目成果将用于促进这些新兴部门的知识，支持产品开发和商业化，刺激经济，并为产品指南和法规提供信息。我们将探索有助于为天然产品和大麻行业生产更高质量、更安全和更一致的产品和包装的方法和控制措施，以造福加拿大消费者。此外，有了可行和经过验证的产品和流程，公司将更好地筹集资金、吸引投资者，并为后期开发寻求研发资金。

Loyalist College will use ARTP funding to advance our work with small and medium-sized enterprises in the natural products and cannabis sectors. We will work with industry to overcome specific challenges such as a lack of research and standards to support product development, particularly for regulated and controlled substances, and chemistry challenges when working with natural products and/or cannabis, and unknown shelf-life and stability of products. Legal, political and complex societal factors have contributed to the limited fundamental and applied research required to better understand the complexity of plants in these sectors, and the practical challenges of developing products for the commercial market. Further, limited data is available on the compatibility of ingredients when designing new products, coupled with the uncertainty of the effects of processing, packaging, and storage on the active ingredients over time. This is a critical information gap that needs to be addressed for Canadians to be innovators in developing high-quality products, and for consumers to understand product implications. Our plan is to tackle this gap through focused industry-specific applied research projects. We will explore ingredient compatibility, test method specifications and controls, shelf life, and stability of products and packaging for the natural products and cannabis sectors. To do this we will create a research program intended to help meet the research and development (R&D) needs of companies that, in addition to other challenges, may lack financial resources or access to traditional funding or funding programs. Project results will be used to advance knowledge for these emerging sectors, support product development and commercialization, stimulate the economy and inform product guidelines and regulations. We will explore methods and controls that help produce higher quality, safer, and more consistent products and packaging for the natural products and cannabis sectors, to benefit Canadian consumers. Additionally, with viable and validated products and processes, companies will be in a better position to raise capital, attract investors, and pursue R&D funding for later stage development.