A rather large batch of psychoactive fungi will soon be making its way into the hands of researchers and other industry figures around the globe.
On Thursday, Optimi Health Corp. (CSE: OPTI) (OTCQX: OPTHF) (FRA: 8BN) revealed that it had completed what it considers to be the most substantial legally authorized psilocybin mushroom harvest in Canadian history.
The company says that choosing to invest in state-of-the-art environmental controls and facility cultivation infrastructure has enabled it to complete a large-scale commercial harvest yielding over 150 kilograms of the psilocybe cubensis and panaeolus cyanescens varieties of psilocybin mushrooms.
Licensed by @GovCanHealth, today we announced the largest harvest of legal natural #psilocybin in Canadian history. More than 150 kgs!
Press Release: https://t.co/WW9X5ejXNJ #psychedelics
View our historic photo gallery: https://t.co/VOuax5Kf08 $OPTI.C $OPTHF pic.twitter.com/MT4xKVfnsh
— Optimi Health (@Optimi_Health) September 8, 2022
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Read more: Optimi receives amendment from Health Canada permitting MDMA production
Optimi says that the new harvest is set to be tested and analyzed prior to international distribution this fall. The company is now known for having a Health Canada license enabling it to produce EU-GMP grade psilocybin and MDMA. The organization also takes pride in rigorous testing and says that its all-natural psilocybin mushrooms undergo almost 300 different analyses post-harvest.
The recent harvest has exceeded the company’s expectations in terms of size and quality — according to Bryan Safarik, Chief Operations Officer at the company.
“By controlling and tracking all of the inputs digitally, we are able to consistently grow psilocybin-containing mushrooms at a much higher potency to maximize the amount of naturally occurring psilocybin within the mushroom,” said Safarik.
“These state-of-the-art controls are a key differentiator for what we offer the global market. The higher the potency, the less biomass you need to achieve the desired amount of pure psilocybin API, which means we can create considerably more natural psilocybin per square foot than a typical black market grow. More psilocybin in less space achieves more revenue per square foot.”
Optimi says that a surplus inventory from the harvest will be safely stored in a designated security vault to prevent degradation and that samples from the batch will be used to help showcase stability and accuracy of dosing for patients intending to request access to the fungi via the Canadian government’s Special Access Program (SAP) and clinical trials.
Strains of psilocybin mushrooms recently harvested include Blue Pulaksi, Penis Envy, B Plus, Malabar, Burma and Koh Samui.
“This yield gives us the capacity and scale we need to advance our analytical schedule while also developing our product pipeline,” said Justin Kirkland, Chief Science Officer at Optimi.
