- Goal is to combine PBIO’s patented Ultra Shear Technology (UST) with Phasex’ Supercritical Fluid (SCF) processing to develop stable, water-soluble nanoemulsions
- As part of this collaboration, PBIO and Phasex seek to develop stable, water-soluble nanoemulsions of nutraceuticals, including CBD-enriched plant oil
- CEO of PBIO sees collaboration leading to a ‘Value-add’ for Phasex customers and a highly profitable service model for both PBIO and Phasex
Pressure BioSciences Inc. (OTCQB: PBIO) recently announced a strategic collaboration with Phasex Corporation to develop stable, water-soluble nanoemulsions of nutraceuticals (http://dtn.fm/IWq4E). These nanoemulsions may exhibit improved absorption, greater stability, higher bioavailability and other strategic and medical advantages. The collaboration involves combining PBIO’s patented Ultra Shear Technology (UST) with Phasex’s Supercritical Fluid (SCF) extraction technology.
Emulsions are mixtures of two or more liquids (e.g., oils and water) that cannot be blended into each other without the addition of chemicals called surfactants. Emulsions represent an incredibly large existing market with a wide range of applications, including nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, industrial lubricants, paints and even food. Currently, most commercially-available emulsion products contain large oil droplets and high amounts of surfactants, which tend to make these macro- and micro-emulsions unstable and not suitable for human use. Conversely, scientific studies have shown that nanoemulsions (with very small oil droplet sizes) generally exhibit improved absorption, higher bioavailability, greater stability, lower surfactant levels and other clear advantages over macro- and micro-emulsions.
Many nutraceuticals begin as compounds contained in plants. When extracted, these compounds end up in the resulting plant oil. From there, they can be used as an oil or turned into an emulsion. Although there are many ways to extract specific compound-rich plant oil, SCF processing is generally considered the cleanest, safest and most environmentally-friendly method available today. Phasex has been using SCF processing for the extraction of compounds-of-interest from plants for over 40 years, and it is considered to be one of the U.S.’s foremost SCF extraction companies.
In a news release announcing the collaboration, Dr. Val Krukonis, a pioneer in SCF extraction and the founder of Phasex, said, “We are impressed with the potential of UST as a complementary technology to SCF extraction. Several customers are currently seeking new methods to turn hydrophobic oil extracts into stable, water-soluble formulations. UST offers the potential to solve this problem by producing stable nanoemulsions of oil-like products in water. Such formulations could potentially have enormous success in many markets, including inks, industrial lubricants, and cosmetics, as well as in pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, such as medically important plant oil extracts.”
Richard T. Schumacher, president and CEO of PBIO, added that, “We believe the ability to subject liquids to UST following the Phasex SCF extraction and purification process would be a highly sought-after ‘Value-add’ for Phasex customers. Rapidly-expanding markets for non-psychoactive extracts of cannabis plant material, for instance, is an example of a potentially high demand application for our combined, synergistic technologies.” He noted that the collaboration could potentially result in a highly profitable service model for both PBIO and Phasex.
Dr. Edmund Ting, Senior Vice President of Engineering for PBIO, explained that nanoemulsions are currently the focus of research efforts worldwide. “Unfortunately, even with these increased efforts, scale-up to a cost-effective, industrial level nanoemulsion production process remains a significant challenge. To that end, we believe that UST has the potential to work through those challenges, and to become a cost-effective, industrial-level nanoemulsion commercial process,” he noted.
As potentially explosive as UST seems to be, though, it is not the only disruptive technology upon which investors in PBIO need to hang their hat or their potential for future returns on investment. PBIO is also seen disrupting the “cell lysis” market (http://dtn.fm/pCaa4) with one of its new high-tech instruments, the Barocycler 2320EXT, which splits cells, according to the site Equities.com. This product carefully cracks open cells at precise pressures to extract the DNA, RNA, proteins and lipids inside in a safe, exquisitely controlled and highly reproducible manner. All the while, care is taken to minimize the damage to the cell’s constituents in order to make them available to research scientists in the highest quality possible. After all, the results of scientific studies are only as good as the quality of the starting material (DNA, proteins, etc.). Equities.com added that the company’s innovative line of instruments and consumables, based on its patented pressure cycling technology (PCT) platform, could revolutionize how researchers approach their studies. The cell lysis global market is projected to grow to $3.84 billion by 2021, showing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.3% from 2016, according to a report by MarketsAndMarkets (http://dtn.fm/hQ2yg).
Pressure BioSciences recently announced record revenue for Q3. See the full news release at http://dtn.fm/BsrK9
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.PressureBiosciences.com
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