Marijuana-related stocks rampaged higher Tuesday, after Cronos Group Inc. detailed an agreement that seeks to extract key compounds from cannabis for medicinal purposes.
Canadian cannabis company Cronos announced what it called a “landmark partnership” with Boston biotech Ginkgo Bioworks Inc. on Tuesday morning that will seek to produce specific cannabinoids at scale. Cannabinoids are specific molecules in marijuana that can produce effects in the human body, with the most commonly known subclasses being Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and cannabidiol, or CBD.
Some cannabinoids that are found only in very small quantities in marijuana are thought to be potentially beneficial to a range of illnesses, but producing enough to test those uses is difficult. Cronos hopes that Ginkgo can help with “a process similar to brewing beer in a microbrewery,” and has promised to fund about $22 million needed to research and develop an approach and issue up to 14.7 million shares to Ginkgo if the partnership meets predetermined milestones.
Top photo courtesy of Adobe Stock
