Charting New Highs with Maridose, Revolutionizing the Cannabis Industry

Join hosts Eric Schneider and Isaac Bach in an engaging episode of “Charting New Highs,” where they sit down with Lisa Rich Milan, the visionary CEO of Maridose. This episode offers an exclusive look into how Maridose is pioneering the integration of cannabis with pharmaceutical precision and navigating the complexities of DEA licensing.

Whether you’re deeply embedded in the cannabis industry or keen on its intersection with healthcare, this conversation is packed with insights on:

• Pioneering Pharmaceutical Cannabis: Lisa from Maridose shares her journey from the pharmaceutical industry to leading Maridose, highlighting the innovative approaches to cannabis research and development. Discover how Maridose’s work as one of the eight DEA-licensed manufacturers is setting new standards for quality and compliance in cannabis production.
• Maridose Regulatory Insights and Challenges: Dive into the intricacies of cannabis regulation from a federal perspective with Lisa’s expert analysis. Learn how Maridose navigates the regulatory landscape, the implications of DEA licensing, and the future of cannabis legislation from someone at the forefront of the industry.
• The Future of Cannabis in Healthcare and Maridose: Explore the potential of cannabis to transform healthcare with discussions on clinical research, the development of cannabinoid-based pharmaceuticals, and Maridose’s vision for the future. Lisa provides a glimpse into the innovative projects Maridose is undertaking and how they’re shaping the role of cannabis in medical and consumer markets.

With Eric, Isaac, and special guest Lisa Rich Milan from Maridose, “Charting New Highs” promises a deep dive into the evolving world of cannabis, offering unique perspectives on its challenges, opportunities, and its promising future in healthcare.

Tune in for an episode that bridges the gap between cannabis culture and pharmaceutical rigor, shedding light on the path forward for the industry.

Transcript

00:01 Eric:
This is the Roots to Risk Podcast hosted by Eric Schneider, alongside Isaac Bach. Roots To Risk brings you insights, the latest stories, and long form discussions about the cannabis industry. You’ll hear interviews with industry leaders and their perspective on current and future trends, how they’ve built success and what challenges they have faced. Our goal is to facilitate candid conversations and provide informative content for the cannabis community at large. Let’s go, Isaac. What’s going on today? How are we feeling?

00:32 Isaac:
I’m good. How are you doing this morning?

00:34 Eric:
I’m good, man. Excited for another Roots to risk, good to have a conversation with you. What, what, what, what could be bad, you know?

00:42 Isaac:
Yeah. I mean, I don’t think anyone’s here to listen to you and I, you know, talk about a bunch of nothing. I think it’s the, the guests that bring people around,

00:50 Eric:
There’s no doubt. Um, and we have, you know, speaking of guests, we have a great one on deck. Uh, Lisa Rich Milan, who is a member of marose, one of eight DEA licensed manufacturers in the cannabis space. Um, I’m really excited for this conversation. It’s definitely gonna be a lens that we haven’t really tapped into yet. Um, you know, that, like, as I mentioned, they’re one of eight manufacturers, um, that are DEA licensed.

01:20 Eric:
And just to get her perspective, her journey into the cannabis space and what they’re building, I’m just, uh, really excited about it.

01:27 Isaac:
Yeah, me too. And I think, um, you know, the, the fact that there are now seven in addition to the, the one singular one that has been around for a long time, and I’m sure Lisa will touch on it a little bit. Um, it’s, it’s good positive growth for the industry, um, on the clinical research side. I’m definitely excited to hear, um, about Megos and what they’re specifically focused on.

01:48 Eric:
Absolutely. Let’s bring her in. Hi, Lisa. How you doing today? Thanks for joining us on the Roots to Risk podcast.

01:55 Lisa::
I’m great. How are you, Eric?

01:58 Eric:
I can’t complain. Can’t complain. Um, well, we’re really excited to learn more about marose and, and what you’re building. And, um, so if you can just provide us a little bit of background on yourself as well as Marose and the organization, um, that would be really helpful.

02:13 Lisa::
Absolutely. So, uh, my name is Lisa Rich Mil. I’m the CEO of Marose, LLC and ar Marose is a federally compliant DEA schedule one provider of active pharmaceutical ingredients for the product development and distribution to DEA registered researchers. So we are not bound by state regulations around the use of cannabis in clinical research or preclinical research as it relates to product development or the development of API.

02:44 Lisa::
We are federally regulated, and we only deal with DEA researchers at this point in time. Um, I joined Marose in December of 2022. Uh, I was recruited away from the pharma and biotech world. I have over 30, I’ll say 30 plus years of experience from, uh, bio, uh, biopharmaceuticals, uh, biotechnology, uh, pharmaceuticals. I spent 20 years with Bristol Myers Squibb companies like UCB, but I also ran a generic company called Synanon Pharmaceuticals as their general manager of North America.

03:19 Lisa::
That’s where I really learned about API and the combination of the core API and a core molecule in the development of research and clinical trials. Um, I also, um, ran the second largest regional diagnostic company for Quest Diagnostics and also in molecular diagnostics with Diversi gen. So I have the lab site of, of, uh, research as well. So you have a leader that has come into the cannabis space from the clinical and preclinical side of things.

03:51 Isaac:
That’s amazing. Um, you know, given your background, what have you noticed kind of the attitude of the DEA and other regulators has been towards, you know, what you’re doing now at OSes versus the conversations you had in in prior roles?

04:04 Lisa::
Yes. So the one reason I came over from farm and biotech because, uh, when I was first contacted, I had that Bix circle, the X through it. Um, <laugh>, it was like generics back, you know, 15, 20 years ago when we said no, we wouldn’t touch generics. But now generics is a brand extension of, uh, pharmaceuticals and biotech. Um, same thing with, uh, cannabis. Um, we are looking to, um, figure out what will give our patients the best outcomes. And we are looking at, um, offsetting some of the side effects that come from some of our small and large molecules that we develop.

04:41 Lisa::
So even though me dose focuses in on pain, sleep apnea, uh, decreasing side effects of seizures in, in, in, um, in epilepsy, we cross over multiple symptoms or areas and disease states. And so basically what brought me here was looking at providing a better quality of life for patients in multiple different types of disease states with the healthy research of cannabis.

05:11 Lisa::
So looking at cannabis not from the harmful effects, but how it truly can benefit patients and, and outcomes of taking, uh, certain drugs and cannabis, uh, in certain disease states. So that’s the movement that we’re seeing now. Um, DEA really for their eight regulated, uh, bulk manufacturers, we follow their guidelines. So they actually support us because our number one focus is to avoid diversion. We will not deal with diversion of cannabis at all.

05:41 Lisa::
We are dealing with the higher levels of TTHC, we deal with the standard requests of TTHC and CBD, but we also deal with genetics and special requests and also high levels of THC. So we have to follow not only DEA responsibilities from our manufacturing license, but because of our end users, the, the, the customers that we partner with, which are the universities, the centers of excellence, uh, pharmaceutical biotechnology companies, uh, those companies, uh, physicians, researchers that have their schedule, uh, one researcher license, they are looking for GMP and consistent quality product in their clinical and preclinical trials.

06:27 Lisa::
So that’s the focus that MARIOSE has versus some of the other markets that we deal in.

06:32 Isaac:
No, that makes a ton of sense. And I think, you know, one of the things you, you touched on as you guys focus on, you know, the THC quality and other molecular makeup of it, um, one of the things we talk a lot about with our clients on the rec side, um, is that the customer base is focused mostly on THC content. Um, you know, in your research and, you know, everything you all have been doing, you know, what have you seen as it relates to, you know, sometimes higher quality THC is better than just more THC? ’cause I think that’s one of the areas that at least on the rec side, and I think it’s a little bit better on the medical side, that that gets missed by the end consumer.

07:09 Lisa::
Um, well, there’s, it, it’s hard to answer that question because if you talk to one researcher, you’ve talked to one researcher, um, every researcher that we speak to has different requirements, especially when you start talking about women’s health versus oncology versus immunology versus pain and inflammation or sleep, sleep apnea. So they’re, they’re looking for different compounds. They’re looking to pull out different pieces of the, of the, uh, marijuana.

07:40 Lisa::
Uh, they’re not necessarily looking for flour all the time. They’re looking for, you know, um, uh, extract either crude or pure or some form of that. They may get into terpenes and they may get into generic, uh, genetics. Um, but it’s hard to really kind of give you a straight answer on that because it’s so variable. Um, did that kind of address what you were asking me?

08:03 Isaac:
Yeah, I think that actually addressed exactly that because I think in the rec community, at least at this point, a lot of customers, regardless of what they might be using cannabis for, just like, I want the most THC rather than, to your point, depending on if there’s some underlying issue you wanna address, even through recreational cannabis, like there might be different ways of getting the best results from your use. Even this is just enjoying it to the best of its capabilities.

08:28 Lisa::
Absolutely. And Isaac, the other piece to this that you have to consider is that, um, when we talk to researchers, there are two buckets in which they’re developing. They’re looking at either putting a combination drug together where they’re using the core molecule of a current drug that’s out there. Uh, they keep the API intact, and then they may add the cannabis piece of that, or the marijuana piece to that, making one drug, which we call a combination drug. Then there’s a second bucket where you’re adding the treatment of marijuana onto an already core drug.

09:04 Lisa::
So it’s, it’s separate and distinct. So we, we kind of call, we sometimes call that a companion diagnostic because it’s not changing the actual molecule of the drug, but it’s adding on to what the, the patient is already taking. So there’s two ways in which we have to fully understand that at me dose to understand how we can help them and deliver the best product that falls within their minimum and maximum ranges of their protocols.

09:32 Eric:
And, and Lisa, one, one thing, you know, that we experience, you know, on a daily basis, just like the challenging the challenges of getting licenses in the cannabis space, whether it’s recreational or medical, I’m curious to, to understand like how this came to be for Marose as, you know, one of eight licensed DEA licensed manufacturers, right? I think that’s even like a smaller subset. Can you walk us through Correct. You know, what that process was like, the due diligence, like the challenges that you guys faced?

10:04 Lisa::
Well, um, I wanna go back. So Richard Shane, who was our founder of mariose, LLC, he really had a vision, you know, his mission was to provide prescription and non-prescription cannabis, cannabis-based products targeting significant health conditions. And his long-term vision is to really create a center of excellence around product research and development to unlock health benefits of cannabis. Whether that resides within clinical research or if we move down the path of descheduling, it will also bring in the consumer side, because Richard’s background is consumer.

10:41 Lisa::
But right now, on the clinical side, descheduling will not impact us because we are are bound by what we call the McCrea Act. All DEA researchers have to go through a DEA bulk manufacturer, and that schedule one license, it was definitely a path that Richard wanted to go down because he saw the potential in the future. You know, how do we impact the pharmaceutical biotech side and also deliver, uh, the best of both worlds in healthcare to a patient that’s in need.

11:14 Lisa::
Because before marijuana was not even considered, um, it was strictly pharmaceutical and a biotech product. Um, now we’re moving into the future where cannabis-based products do offer significant benefit.

11:33 Eric:
Yeah, that’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s definitely a very different look than I feel like a lot of conversations that we have where people are very, like, cannabis industry is like very CPG. Right. Um, and not on the pharmaceutical and biotech. So it’s like great to get your perspective, um, you know, that, that it does have that application. Yeah. Right. Um, because I feel like sometimes people, ’cause we do a lot of work as well in the psychedelic space. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And that has traditionally, like, I feel like on its onset, been more of, you know, clinical trials.

12:07 Eric:
You look at companies like maps, cyber, those companies that are like going through, you know, your traditional pharmaceutical, you know, drug discovery. Um, but it’s great to hear like your lens focused on the cannabis space, um, and providing medical, medical grade products for the cannabis. Correct.

12:29 Lisa::
Which is very different than what’s being used in the state level medical use me, uh, CBD or, uh, hemp, that’s a very different product than what we work with.

12:40 Isaac:
No, that makes a ton of sense. I know you touched on it, that’s not gonna really necessarily affect on the clinical research side, but, um, you know, internally, are there any conversations on, you know, what descheduling might mean in the long run? You know, what full legalization might mean? Like how, how do you all view that, um, on your

12:58 Lisa::
End? Right. So as I mentioned before, DESCHEDULING will not impact our clinical research side because of the McCrea act. That McCrea act that came out in December of 2022 clearly states that the level of THC and the level of, of cannabis that we utilize with DEA researchers, it has to be a one-to-one. Um, they have to come to us and we have to come to them. And so, and we can only get product from, uh, either an importation process or into North America and or through another, uh, DEA bulk manufacturer.

13:37 Lisa::
So the D-E-A-D-E-A made it that way for researchers because they wanted it limited and they did not want diversion. So DESCHEDULING doesn’t affect the clinical research side. What it does do is it opens it up for possibilities on the consumer product side, where we might look at, um, moving into that market a little bit sooner than we thought we were going to do and began looking at formulations that would fit in those areas.

14:09 Lisa::
Did, did I answer your question there?

14:11 Isaac:
Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. And I think, um, you know, you were, you were very clear on how the McCrae Act affects you all currently. It’s, uh, it’s good to know though, like what the, the impact would be even for descheduling if it doesn’t impact one side of your business, like how quickly you might look to get into another vertical Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, um, that makes a ton

14:29 Lisa::
Of sense. Yeah. Well, we have three verticals. So we have three business models within marose. And so we offer, uh, preclinical clinical and commercialization services. We offer the distribution model of, uh, distributing to, um, research license, uh, DEA research researchers that have their license. And then we also will move into that consumer side much quicker, especially if D Descheduling occurs. Um, but you have to remember, there’s, there’s two books of our business that really focus in on utilization of cannabis greater than 3% delta, uh, nine, THC, uh, on a dry weight base.

15:08 Lisa::
Um, and looking at delta th uh, Delta nine THC thresholds for research purposes that are normally much higher than what you see in the retail, um, market space that the DEA will not allow, uh, to occur in your state levels.

15:26 Eric:
And, and Lisa, when you say consumer model, would that be like direct to consumer in terms of like you guys selling your products directly to users, or would it still be, you know, partnering with medical facilities, hospitals to like then disseminate a

15:42 Lisa::
Product? On the consumer side? It’s a very different customer. It could be a customer like wanna brands, uh, it could be within their research. Yeah. But it could be, you know, going straight to market to the, the consumer. We could get into animal health. Um, there are different segments that you would go into that are not clinical, um, in a human aspect, I should say, where research is needed in, in, in humans. So it’s anything that’s non-human based, non FDA required. Um, and that’s what we’re talking about as, um, when you talk about consumer and when you talk to direct to consumer.

16:16 Lisa::
So yes, we could be still in research. Yes, we could go direct to consumer with our own products, um, still in that development stage, looking at how we would go to market on that. Mm-Hmm.

16:28 Eric:
<affirmative>. And are you guys partnering with like researchers across the country? Like do you don’t have the same, you know, boundaries of interstate commerce that a normal cannabis operator would have? Right.

16:40 Lisa::
You’re absolutely correct, Eric. We do not have state boundaries. We go across all of North America, all of the United States. So our researchers are everywhere and all over. And when you get into big pharma and big biotech, um, you know, sometimes it’s overseas and overseas may wanna get into North America. And so in order for overseas to get into North America, they’ve got to partner with us if they’re gonna bring a clinical trial into, uh, the United States.

17:09 Eric:
Very interesting. Yes. And, and what’s on the docket for, for 2024? What are you guys most excited about? Whether it’s industry related or for your own, you know, core business?

17:19 Lisa::
Yeah, so a couple of things. So right now we’re in our series A funding. We’re hoping to wrap that up by the end of this year. We’re getting, we already have, um, a temporary facility that’s located in Brunswick made. We’re ready to get that up and running, which would take us anywhere from four to to eight weeks to get it up and running once money comes in. So right now we are in parallel getting processes and things in place to where we can just like a light switch, turn it on once that funding comes in. So we are up and running, um, in 2024. That’s the number one priority. And then number two, um, we are excited because in the last two months we have seen the researcher space, uh, in cannabis almost double.

17:59 Lisa::
It’s gone from 600 researchers to over 1500, which means this marketplace is growing.

18:06 Lisa::
People are, are looking at, you know, how does cannabis affects affect women’s health? You know, I was just on a call with the university today and we were talking about postmenopausal women. Um, you know, I’ve been on discussions with, um, epilepsy and cannabis, the use of cancer drugs with cannabis. And so on the horizon, that is really our focus. It’s looking at how, how fast can we move and how large will outreach be, because our goal is to touch and help every patient that is in need and to give them the best patient outcomes.

18:41 Lisa::
So that’s all about that center of excellence.

18:47 Eric:
That’s amazing. And, and this has been such a, like a, a great topic because I think it, like your guys’ business model and, and where you sit within the cannabis industry is, is fairly unique. Yes. Right. And so it’s, it’s very interesting to, to get your perspective more on the, you know, the medical, the pharmaceutical side where we traditionally hear, like I said earlier, you know, more cpg Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> focused. Um, and that’s great to hear, like more and more researchers or, you know, I guess what are, what are some barriers or hurdles for your guys’ expansion that, you know, not keep you up at night Mm-Hmm.

19:25 Eric:
<affirmative>, but that, you know, you’re constantly looking at and, and making sure you’re, you’re taking care of each.

19:30 Lisa::
Yeah. Um, one of the barriers is making sure that the FDA and the DEA are communicating, and that the, the acts and laws and bills that they’re putting in place do indeed link and tie to the processes. So, for example, you know, the McCrea Act requires that all DA researchers go through one of the eight manufacturers. Well, does the process around NIH and FDA support that. So with the NIH uh, process around supporting universities and grants right now, um, the DEA approved these additional seven.

20:07 Lisa::
There was already one out on the marketplace that everyone knows that has been out there for years. And the DEA made a decision that, and, and based on feedback of the researchers along with NIH, we need more DEA bulk manufacturers ’cause there’s not enough and we need more quality and consistent product in this space, well, they approve them.

20:27 Lisa::
But then when we are getting up and running, it takes us a minute to get up and running. Um, Richard received his license in August of 2022. And so when it takes us a moment to get up and running, well, NIH ran a, a, um, RFP process and the only bulk manufacturer that was ready to go was the one that was already out there delivering what they, what they currently have. And so many of the bulk manufacturers couldn’t even participate in that at that, that, uh, particular RFP, because at that point we weren’t up and running.

21:00 Lisa::
So it’s making sure that the processes, uh, fit with the Axon bills and decisions that the DEA and FDA are making. Um, we also partner, we have a great partner, um, on the regulatory side because how you create a protocol, get it ready to go for FDA approval is all about not legal, but regulatory.

21:24 Lisa::
You know, do you have, uh, the strength behind your regulatory team or your alliance where they are, they can get, uh, approval through the FDA process. Because the FDA process is for traditional drugs, traditional biotech and pharma drugs, we now are looking at a potential different way of bringing these drugs together now using a Schedule one FDA. Now what and how will that look as far as your approval process and how are you shortening it up?

21:55 Lisa::
McCrea was meant to shorten up that approval process, but is it really happening? And so those are the two things that really kind of keep me up at night. And then our investors we’re doing a lot of educating around the difference between the retail market and the clinical and preclinical market space. Uh, a lot of education there.

22:17 Isaac:
Uh, that makes a ton of sense. And, uh, yes, very good to hear that there’s gonna be more options for the clinical research than the, the one place that it was coming from in the past. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, because I know there’s been a, a lot of complaints on that end. <laugh>,

22:30 Lisa::
But, but I will tell you this. So, you know, one of the visions that Richard had that I have to compliment him on, he, for his CEO, he looked at the traditional cannabis person leading it, um, leading his company. However, if your end users, if your customers are going to be universities, researchers, pharma, biotech, centers of excellence, they don’t wanna hear from cannabis leaders. They want to hear from people who know their industry then can talk cannabis.

23:03 Lisa::
So Richard had the forethought of going into that area and saying, let me see if I can pull a leader that can talk the talk and know the walk of preclinical clinical and commercialization so that we get the best of both worlds. We can support them outside of just being a distributor. We can support them in what they’re doing in the development of their drugs or their, their, their product.

23:28 Lisa::
Um, that’s the first thing. And the other thing that I think Richard did extremely well is he secured, we secured our chief scientific officer, professor lame HNIs. Um, if you were at, uh, caned 23, um, we actually flew Professor LaMere Inn from Israel, and he is almost like the second, uh, authority and leader, uh, outside of, uh, Raphael. Before he passed away, he worked very closely with Rafael, but he also is just very well renowned known in Ananda mines and his research, uh, uh, in that area, and also the use of, of cannabis.

24:07 Lisa::
And so it’s important that you have expertise on your leadership team when you are meeting with your customers that are in that research space. And I, and I think that’s what really sets us apart from many of the others.

24:27 Eric:
It makes a lot because those are the conversations that I’m sure that they’re, you know, accustomed to having. Mm-hmm, <affirmative>, right? Is, is more of the, the biotech, the pharmaceutical, not cannabis. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So, you know, in order to to approach those conversations, you have to be able to have that commonality and relationship, you know, before introducing that. So that’s, that’s very interesting, Lisa. And is there anything else, Lisa, that, you know, we weren’t able to touch on that, you know, you want to just let the, the viewers kind of know about Marose and what’s on the horizon, just wanna make sure that we, we touch on everything.

24:59 Lisa::
Yes. I think from a, um, from OSes perspective, um, Maridose there is a lot of now interest. Um, even though it’s still, you know, farm and biotech are moving slowly into this space, uh, they’re still very conservative in moving into this world. There is a need, um, in our healthcare environment. If we continue to move in the direction that we’re moving right now with the 350 million lives that we have in the United States, where we’re only looking at the traditional way of treating them with biopharmaceuticals and, and pharmaceutical type drugs with, at, with then adding on other drugs like opioids and other addictive type drugs to offset those side effects, our our economics around our healthcare system is gonna crash.

25:47 Lisa::
And so looking at this market and bringing Maridose in other options that may be better than putting a cancer patient on an opioid when they’re experiencing pain, um, if, if we can look at, uh, uh, cannabis and marijuana in that particular area to, to push us forward to look at the outcomes of what a patient Maridose will, will do, and if it increases what we call compliance and persistency where a patient be is able to tolerate the drug that they’re put on, and then the, the marijuana Maridose is able to help them get through the side effects and makes it more safer, and it reduces those, those areas that would cause discontinuation of taking their drug, then we’ve gotta win and we’ve gotta think innovatively and we’re thinking Maridose outside of the box.

26:35 Lisa::
So more and more of that is coming. And so we’re now starting to look at we being marose, we being Maridose the federal government, we being, um, uh, everyone creating drugs for patients. We’re now looking at what will make healthcare better for the end user and what will not break the bank to where, you know, payers will not even approve certain drugs because of the cost. And it’s so out of reach for patients to even get it now. You know, that’s, those are the things that are coming and that are here right now, um, in our healthcare system where I think marijuana and what we’re doing Maridose as a schedule one, uh, DEA licensed bulk manufacturer really is in the center of all of it.

27:23 Eric:
Do you, do you have any, uh, discussions or conversations with like health insurance companies about like reimbursement? I know like, that’s been a, a huge, a huge topic, obviously. Um,

27:33 Lisa::
So you are talking to,

27:34 Eric:
And, and a big part of just the industry. Yeah.

27:36 Lisa::
So Eric, you’re talking to someone that has 18 years Maridose of payer experience. Uh, I was with Bristol Marqui for 20 years and was one of their vice presidents of payer insurances. Um, and then I went to UCB where I built their whole structure for the payer, uh, their payer reimbursement. So I’ve been in that field. And then when I went to UCB, I also had got international experience on that side. We, as a bulk manufacturer have not gotten into that yet. However, our services will, because as a, um, as a researcher moves from preclinical into clinical trials, the four phases of clinical trials, then into commercialization, taking it to market, those companies then begin to look at how am I going to get my drug reimbursed before I actually go to market with my plan?

28:27 Lisa::
Because if a patient can’t pay for this drug, especially if the drug is built within the API of a core drug that is approved, then they won’t be, they won’t have as many patients getting access to the drug as necessary.

28:40 Lisa::
You know, when you and I go to, to get our drug refilled, we pay a copay. That means on the other side of that, if a, a manufacturer has negotiated a contract with a, a United Healthcare and Aetna, a Cigna, Humana, um, Medicare, Medicaid at the state and federal levels in order to make sure that you’re not paying full cost for that drug or there’s co-insurances. So wh where do I see this potentially going? Um, if these drugs are FDA approved, they will be viewed as long as we have clinical data to show the pharmacoeconomics and pharmaco outcomes to payers.

29:17 Lisa::
Okay. Once we’re able to prove that, and if it’s better than what’s already out on the market, or it’s an innovative drug that is not on the market that they see a value, and we have the Maridose data to show that, then we will be able to negotiate to get the product on their formulary so that patients will have access to it. But we at marose have not gotten into that yet. However, that will be a service that we’ll be able to provide to some of our customers because they have, um, the leadership that has the experience to do that.

29:50 Lisa::
Did that answer your questionMaridose , Eric <laugh>?

29:53 Eric:
Yeah, it did. No, that’s, this is just like very, very interesting and like Yeah,

29:57 Lisa::
I, I smiled because I was like, I have 18 years of experience in that Great question, <laugh>.

30:02 Eric:
No, no, no, you’re good. Um, it, it, it’s, from what I gathered, you guys are moving very, very quickly. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But there’s a lot of different steps that are involved. And so it’s just, I I, you know, I I I really commend you guys, you know, going this path, uh, in the industry and it’s obviously much, much needed. And it’s challenging, right? It, it has its own unique challenges. And so I think it’s, um, really important that you guys are taking that on.

30:35 Eric:
And, and I’m excited to see where Marose is in 2024 and, you know, five years from now.

30:41 Lisa::
Well, we are too. We are moving as quickly as we can. Some things get slowed down and then we, then we have to rev up and then move fast again once a decision or something comes in. But we are trying to move quickly because we can’t get out there fast enough. And there is a benefit, um, to marijuana, uh, with pharmaceuticals and biotech. And I like the way the federal government is moving in that yes, they’ve done their research on the harmful effects of our, of marijuana, but now they’re starting to look at the health benefits.

31:14 Lisa::
And that’s what’s exciting.

31:18 Isaac:
Definitely. Yeah.

31:19 Eric:
That, that’s great to hear. ’cause like I feel like a lot of times, like we, you know, from the clients that we work with a lot, right? You know, are at the state level, state mandated, and the federal Maridose government can be viewed as like the, you know, the, the big bad guy that hasn’t approved it, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But understanding your lens, that’s, that’s definitely comforting. Yeah. You know?

31:41 Isaac:
Well, and I think too, what you all are doing, um, and you know, kind of pushing the envelope of what the health benefits are, it kind of, uh, destigmatizes the way it’s currently scheduled, because the fact that their states have medically, uh, legalized it, let alone recreationally kind of proves that its current scheduling status doesn’t make a ton of sense. Yeah.

32:00 Lisa::
And I can tell you from coming  Maridosefrom the pharma and biotech world, um, again, we are, we are very conservative. So the fact that you’ve got more regulation in a scheduled one bulk manufacturer than the open state markets, um, that’s what really kinda makes some of us, you know, begin to look and begin the research and do something different in this, this space.

32:28 Eric:
But, um, but this has been really, really enlightening, Lisa, and, and really appreciate that this is the benefit of living in New York City. You get blaring, uh, ambulance in the background. It, it creates great noise for the podcast <laugh>. Um, but no, it, it’s been tremendous to learn about your background, your experience, what you guys are building at Marose. Um, I’ve frankly learned a lot and, and am really grateful for everything that you’ve shared and, and, uh, excited to see where Marose is in, in 2024 and beyond.

33:01 Lisa::
Absolutely. And it was a pleasure, uh, seeing you again, Eric and Isaac meeting you for the first time.

33:07 Isaac:
Nice to meet you too, Lucy Maridose. So we really appreciate your time today. Thank you.

33:10 Lisa::
Absolutely. Thank you.

33:15 Eric:
Another one in the books and a really, really interesting one. I know, I know we do say that a lot, but this one truly was, I learned a ton, you know, getting her perspective and her background Maridose in the pharmaceutical space and how they’re applying it to Marose being one of eight DEA licensed manufacturers in the space. They don’t have boundaries with interstate commerce. You know, they’re Maridose dealing with the federal government, which a lot of times has a little bit of a negative lens in the cannabis space.

33:45 Eric:
So it was really Maridose great to hear their willingness to allow for more manufacturers invest in research. And from what she’s saying, that there’s been exponential growth. They doubled the amount of researchers just this past year. So I think, you know, all in all positive and I thought a really insightful conversation.

34:07 Isaac:
No, definitely. AndMaridose  I think, um, you know, listening to what she was talking about and what mariose is focused on, um, you know, having gone through that master’s program, you know, during peak covid times, I guess we’re still in Covid times. Uh, but um, you know, it’s cool to hear like the research that even I was looking at a year or two years ago, um, it’s gonna be substantially better. ’cause there’s just gonna be more information, there’s gonna be more researchers focused on it. So, um, I think this is gonna push the, the canvas industry in the right direction.

34:39 Isaac:
Um, and having companies Maridose like Megos is definitely gonna help.

34:42 Eric:
Yeah. And it, it seems like they have the roadmap, right? It’s just about executing each step of the way and, and it, and it takes time, right? I think, I mean,

34:52 Isaac:
When you have her Maridose and you know, who their Cs the chief, uh, science officer is in your C-suite, I think you’re in a pretty, pretty good starting point given her background and expertise in dealing with a lot of the things as it relates to these topics.

35:05 Eric:
Absolutely. I I just Maridose think like when we look at, you know, sometimes at the cannabis industry on a micro level, we’re, we’re, we’re trying to expedite Maridose it so quickly, which I totally get right. People want to get operational, expand, and um, but I think when you take a step back, it’s like there’s just a lot to do. Um, and yeah, there’s obviously governmental framework that they have to abide by. So it sounds Maridose like it was, it was a really positive reinforcement that things are heading in the right direction, I think

35:39 Isaac:
For No, a hundred percent. And I, I do think the based off of what they’re doing, the, the timeframe and the, the speed on which they’re trying Maridose to operate is different than, you know, the current recreational companies who have totally a bit different of needs, uh, going maridose on from, from that standpoint. But I agree with Maridose you. I think, you know, going about it this way is only gonna help the canvas industry in the long run.

36:03 Eric:
Absolutely. Maridose Well, till next time, ib, this has been awesome Maridose and, uh, excited for the next one and appreciate you as always.

36:11 Isaac:
Appreciate you too, man. And uh, yeah, that was a really enjoyable %MCEPASTEBIN% one, so we’ll, we’ll get another one going soon.