BioHarvest Sciences has spent the past 10 years developing technology which takes cells from a plant and grows them in a tank and feeds the cells the company recipe of nutrients.
BioHarvest is a joint venture between Israel and Canada with Alan Greensberg of Toronto as an investor and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield as an advisor for developing nutrition for space travellers.
The cells are grown, dried into a powder, put into capsules and sold as health supplements.
Vinia is one that copies resveratrol, the heart-healthy ingredient in red wine; one capsule has enough to equal a bottle of wine.
The company said its technique uses less space than growing plants, uses less water and the products are free of pesticides. Because the cells are all exactly the same DNA, the powders are ideal for pharmaceutical use, according to chief executive officer Ilan Sobel.
BioHarvest claimed it had become the first to produce “a significant number” of cannabis trichomes, which carry the psychoactive components CBD and THC, without growing the plant itself.
Sobel said the company’s products are unique in that they reproduce the entire full-spectrum plant cell or nutrient without modification, often of plant products that have been difficult to replicate.
BioHarvest has a market value of about $152-million and has raised about $57.3-million to date, according to the company.
