“Prepared for regulatory requirements”: Symrise eyes European and North American markets for its CBD ingredient Canapure

27 Nov 2019 --- Canapure, Symrise’s new active cannabidiol (CBD) ingredient is the latest addition to the company’s product portfolio of approved ingredients. According to the company, as the active pharmaceutical ingredient undergoes a synthetic production, it is highly similar to natural CBD and free of pesticides and environmental impurities. CBD is non-psychoactive and is said to have a relaxing, anti-inflammatory, anxiolytic and nausea-relieving effect on users upon consumption.

The Canapure launch taps into consumers’ rising demands for natural ingredients in the pharma industry, as people increasingly turn away from products filled with undesirable contaminants. The company’s target markets for Canapure are Europe, the US and Canada.

“CPhI [where Symrise presented the product] was very successful and we are well prepared for pharma regulations. Heading toward the food and supplement market, industry needs to apply for a novel food application to be able to use CBD in its purest form,” Silke Hilmer, Director Global Marketing of Aroma Molecules Division at Symrise, tells NutritionInsight. 

The legality and safety of CBD and products containing it continues to be a topic of heated discussion.Controlling Canapure from implementation to production scale was the main challenge in ensuring its safety. “This required special training and qualifications as well as laboratory and production facilities. Ensuring Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements demanded experience and quality control experts to fully secure the pathway from raw material to final product,” says Hilmer. All of this is done with diligence as GMP-compliant quality management ensures high product quality and compliance with legal requirements, she explains.

With increasing health awareness among the population, the demand for functional health products is likely to rise in the future, says Andreas Engelbrecht, Director Global Marketing Aroma Molecules, Symrise.

Regulatory requirements in the CBD sector
Canapure’s compliance with GMP guidelines is particularly important given the active discussion on the legality and safety of CBD. 

According to research conducted by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), the multi-billion-dollar CBD industry operates within a “disjointed, patchwork system of US state regulations.” This leads to consumer confusion over what CBD is, what it does and whether it is safe. One in three US adults uses CBD, the study says, and 76 percent of CBD users assume that products are subject to federal regulations and safety oversight.

This week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reiterated its denial of CBD’s Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) status and emitted further warnings about its legality amid safety concerns. In the UK alone, almost half of CBD products currently available on the UK high street contain cannabinol or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), according to tests commissioned by CBD producer TTS Pharma.

Despite these challenges, Hilmer considers the outlook to be “very positive.” Meeting these requirements is an “essential step to overcome regulatory hurdles. However, Canapure is at the ready,” she affirms. 

Recently, the European Commission has granted one UK-based pharmaceutical company marketing authorization for its CBD oral solutions treating patients with epilepsy.

By Anni Schleicher