Oil and Water Don't Mix, But This Company - Armed with Newly Awarded Patents and Proprietary Knowhow - Wants to Change That

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The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

Want some CBD oil in your bottled water? Not as easy as it sounds. It actually requires detailed science to ensure that it can be done, and done right. The people behind a Massachusetts-based biotech company believe they have developed the technology to make CBD oil enhanced beverages, and many other similar products, commercially viable.

The scientists and engineers at Pressure BioSciences Inc. PBIO state that they have shown in laboratory tests that their Ultra Shear Technology (UST) platform can turn so-called hydrophobic (water hating) extracts such as oil into stable, water-soluble hydrophilic (water loving) formulations. UST uniquely combines ultra-high pressure discharges of such extracts with ultra high shear forces to produce stable nanoemulsions, or mixtures of previously immiscible liquids, such as water and oil, into long-term stable mixtures.

With the cannabinoid CBD, for example, UST technology could create a product that has vastly improved absorption, higher bioavailability, and much longer stability, than its non-nanoemulsified counterpart, the company says.

The challenge now is to translate those experiments and projects into a successful commercial enterprise, which is exactly what the team at PBIO intrends to do. 

Multi-Pronged Approach

Such technology could be a highly useful tool in a number of applications and sectors such as paints and lubricants, cosmetics, as well as pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, the company says.

It could also be applied to liquid foods and beverages, such as dairy products, whose shelf life is currently limited by existing technologies such as heat pasteurization, which can cause deterioration in flavor, nutrition, and stability. That capability could attract the interest of major food producers or grocery chains like Kroger Co. KR and Nestle (NESNNSRGY.

Scaling Up

Pressure BioSciences plans to release 3 separate instrument versions of its UST technology in 2022. 

The BaroShear Industrial Scale unit is on track for release in the first quarter of next year and will be followed by the BaroShear K45 mid-range unit over the following 2 quarters. The BaroShear K45 Mini will be released in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The company’s BaroShear K45 system, for example, is uniquely designed to produce nanoemulsions of high-quality CBD oil in water with a throughput that should satisfy the needs of all but the largest commercial producers of cannabinoid products. The Industrial Scale unit will be able to fulfill the needs of very large liquid foods and beverage companies that may want to infuse CBD (or other wellness products) into their drinks, such as PepsiCo PEP, Coca-Cola COKE, and Seagrams. 

The application of such technology can have transformative real-world consequences. With CBD oil, for example, the World Health Organization estimates that as little as 6% of the infused CBD is typically absorbed when an individual either ingests the cannabinoid or it is applied topically on the skin. Such ineffective absorption can result in significant reductions in potential health benefits, because too little of the active ingredient (CBD in this case) is actually made bioavailable.  

Pressure BioSciences believes that by improving the water solubility of oil containing active ingredients such as CBD, Vitamin D3, and Astaxanthin (world’s most potent antioxidant) through the use of its UST nanoemulsification technology, it could result in potentially enormous additional health benefits to the consumer.

Pressure BioSciences has previously reported that the company is in discussions with industry leaders across the food and beverage, wellness, and nutraceutical market areas, and hopes to announce partnerships in the coming months..

Yesterday, the company reported Year-to-Date revenues of approximately $1.7 million for the 9 months ending September 30, 2021, compared with $1.1 million in the same period in 2020.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.