THE female entrepreneurs behind Pureis CBD have spoken of their pride – and ambition – after becoming the first to secure Novel Food Validation from both UK and European regulators.
With extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry Caroline Glynn and Chanelle Lady McCoy became aware of the potential of the emerging CBD sector back in 2015.
Within a few months of the European Union designating CBD a Novel Food, in January 2019, the duo had started their first ‘gold standard’ clinical trials designed to demonstrate its safety.
After spending £1.5m assimilating the necessary toxicology and safety data to satisfy the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Pureis CBD is tuned for a growth spurt.
Amazon Talks Under Way
“We are delighted to already be in Holland & Barrett and Boots and advanced talks are under way with a number of supermarkets. And, following our Validation we are now in advanced discussions with Amazon,” said Lady McCoy.
Looking ahead she believes successful Novel Food Validations in Europe and the UK – and their pending Authorisations – will lead to a step-change for the whole industry.
“Even now, with this Validation, and the recent floatations of the three companies on the London Stock Exchange, all of this is really good to go back to the social media companies with.
“All of our fellow CBD companies are struggling with these issues because we cannot advertise our products on Instagram or Facebook; it’s challenging to find the right banks to deal with and to find the right payment gateway when selling products online.
“Now, with this legislation is coming through, this is helping in our discussions with all of these groups and we just hope it will be easier for all of us going forward. We’re hoping this will help change the perceptions of CBD and cannabis in the wider business community.”
Synthetic Pathway
Lady McCoy and Ms Glynn worked together for more than a decade in Chanelle Pharma, Ireland’s largest indigenous pharma company, which employs over 400 people and has revenues above €100m. They jointly achieved more than 2,500 product licences and penetrated almost 100 global markets.
Their joint business venture Chanelle McCoy Health has developed the synthetic Pureis Ultra Pure CBD range, which has manufacturing capacity in both the UK and Ireland.
While both are supporters on natural plant CBD products they felt synthetics was the right choice for this business due to its batch-to batch reproducibility and purity.
With a pharmaceutical background they also identified this as the pathway to scalability in food supplements and medicines.
Having delivered the evidence to show that CBD is safe they are now looking to deliver evidence on the efficacy of CBD and have initiated their first human condition-specific trials, although they were not in a position to elaborate on this at this time.
Their eventual aim is to take CBD up the value chain into non-prescription, over the counter medicines, and on into the prescription pharmaceutical space.
Demystify CBD
Ms Glynn said: “We have very aggressive expansion plans we have the experience with our previous business of opening up 96 markets and we are close to having the first novel Food Authorisation in Europe.
“We are looking beyond Europe and the United States. We are focused on R&D, new products, new technologies and drug delivery systems.”
Lady McCoy added: “We are the first to get dual Validation, and we are making great progress with our EU applications. We are here, we are visible and we will be here for a very long time to come.
“What we are most proud of now is that we are the first CBD food supplement product on the market that is backed by clinical studies.
“We want to demystify CBD, give customers a product they can really trust, and for our customers to realise that these girls have invested so much time and money into developing trusted products for them.”
DUO’S BACKGROUND
Chanelle Lady McCoy was awarded the All-Ireland Business Champion Award 2018 for her outstanding achievements in business leadership.
She was a Dragon investor on the TV series Dragons’ Den, and recently ranked ‘no 23 in the 50 incredible people shaping modern Ireland’.
She is married to Sir AP McCoy OBE, Champion Jump Jockey for 20 consecutive years, who was voted BBC Sports Personality of the year in 2010.
Caroline Glynn is qualified with a degree in Pharmacology, a Masters in Biomedical Science and a Masters in Law.
