This could cover pain relief for chronic issues such as arthritis and joint pain, founder Abhishek Mohan told NutraIngredients-Asia.
The plan is to launch one to two new ayurvedic cannabis product every quarter.
“We will go after mass ailments such as arthritis, joint pain, largely around pain relief.
“The world is also warming up to ayurveda and we are looking to export the products into Canada and Germany,” he said.
According to the company, cannabinoids address chronic pain and produce analgesia by acting on multiple pain targets within the peripheral and central nervous system.
In particular, it activates the CB1 receptors found in the central nervous system and CB2 receptors found in cells involved in the immune system.
The company added that cannabinoids could increase appetite and alleviate problems associated with the gut, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), vomiting, and diarrhoea.
This is based on the understanding that cannabis triggers ghrelin levels and that cannabinoids could possibly play a role in the symptomatic treatment of gut problems such as IBD – but large RCTs are needed to demonstrate objective improvements.
Cannabis for menstrual cramp
Hempstreet launched an Ayurveda cannabis tablet that claims to address menstrual cramp in first and second tier Indian cities this month.
The Ayurveda cannabis product, named Trailokya Vijaya Vati, is a practitioner-only product where consumers must consult an Ayurveda practitioner before the product is dispensed.
The product is based on a classical Ayurveda cannabis formula, which is made from 62.5mg of dried cannabis leaves and other bioactives such as the Indian thorny bamboo (bambusa arundinacea). This is the first product launch from the ayurvedic cannabis product developer.
The first batch of product was distributed in early December last year to about 280 ayurvedic doctors. Of which, the company noticed that the re-order rate is 35 percent in less than a month.
To scale up the distribution that the company will distribute about 2.4 million dose to about 300 Ayurveda practitioners by this month.
“We have made this a practitioner-only product because cannabis does not solve every problem, you have to go to the doctor to analyse every facet of the body first,” he explained.
Selling at US$2.50 for a strip of 10 pills, the product will be first made available to practitioners in first and second tier Indian cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore.
“Since we are talking about cannabis, we want to make sure that the dispensing is 100% controlled and we have deployed the blockchain solution to track the production and dispensing.
“We will monitor the process and maybe later in March this year, we will open the distribution to our entire network of 60,000 ayurvedic practitioners.”
Cannabis is currently legally for use in ayurvedic practice in India and companies such as Hempstreet will need to buy the cannabis from the government.
Sampling
Hempstreet has conducted a six-week product sampling in last September with 2,000 ayurvedic practitioners from 28 towns and cities.
“We don’t technically need to do a clinical trial with the classical products because they have been used before, but we want to make sure that even the classic products need to be tested and are effective,” Abhishek said.
He said that written responses from about 400 doctors showed that there were good product reviews for menstrual cramps and general pain relief.
Patients can take the tablet when they experience menstrual cramps and the general indication is one tablet twice per day.