As the two fields of study are so often intertwined, medicine and science commonly go hand-in-hand when research is being conducted. From groundbreaking studies on cancer cell growth and shrinkage to the detailed research into the many documented uses of vaccination, the two categories usually find ways to advance technologically together as opposed to individually.
With breakthrough research in several fields being conducted almost daily, scientific companies have discovered the importance of branching out and diversifying their research efforts into multiple projects simultaneously. A prime example of a conglomerate with many unique subsidiaries located in Texas is LoneStar Life Sciences. Started in March of 2016, LoneStar has since expanded drastically into numerous branches each with their own focus in a particular field of medicine, technology and science; from the agriculture-focused AgriTech that specializes in rapidly cultivating the hops plant year round, the healthcare and allergy research-based MedTech and even the blockchain-oriented InfoTech.
LoneStar Life Sciences and their founder and president Matthew Atwood have done tremendous research into the botanical relation and similarities of the hops plant in particular to cannabis. They’ve discovered the possible medical usages of phytochemicals within the hops plant that are eerily reminiscent of cannabinoids. Overall, the scope and potential of LoneStar Life Sciences sound groundbreaking. For further insight into their operations and the relation between medicinal usages of both hops and cannabis, I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Atwood.
JK: In doing research into you and LoneStar Life Sciences, your background sounds fascinating.Tell us a little about your professional experiences that led up to the creation of Lone Star and how the company came to be.
MA: I started out my career in medical distribution sales right out of college for a company called PSS, which was sold later to McKesson. I sold everything you see in side a doctors office from table paper, to exam tables to lab equipment. I later became a corporate trainer for that fortune 100 company, along with a diagnostic specialist and manager. You name it, I did it. I then switched to medical manufacturing with 3 different companies before I started my own medical company. I developed the ability to take a product from concept, development, branding, marketing, training, then set up distribution. In medical distribution and manufacturing, most people can’t do both – but I found it helpful when I started to investigate my own company focussing on natural diagnostics and therapy for AllergyFree and also for our medical division, MedTech.
In 2014, I was hired to consult for a medical cannabis company out of Colorado. I saw their products and it looked like someone had made it out of their kitchen sink and licked a label on it. Doctors would never recommend a product where there was not some sort of standardized dose, quality control, or clinical support showing pre and post therapy research. I found the medical cannabis industry to be a joke because nobody in the medical cannabis industry knew anything about how a real medical product should be presented to healthcare.
JK: In multiple interviews, you mention the hops-based xanthohumol and how it’s chemically similar to cannabinoids. Talk about the benefits of this flavonoid and how Lone Star is utilizing it.
MA: When we first started looking into indoor hops production with LED and Hydroponics, I came across an article in Men’s Journal saying “Lose Weight Drinking Beer”. Of course, everyone knows that drinking beer makes men gain weight not lose it, so it caught my attention. There was a compound only found in the hops flower called Xanthohumol that showed a 20% drop in weight gain, but you would have to drink a ridiculous amount of beer to get enough Xantho, so of course that’s the joke in the title. I googled Xanthohumol and found an incredible amount of clinical research had been done on this compound, but NOBODY has ever heard about it!
Not only does it have weight loss capability, but it also kills more than 60 cancers, has showed a 23% drop in insulin requirement for diabetics, drops LDL (bad) cholesterol by 80%, can be used to treat and heal stroke, HIV, Hepatitis C and B, and is 10 times more powerful than vitamin C as an antioxidant.
JK: LoneStar Life Sciences appears to have branches in virtually every facet of science and medicine. How would you describe all the work that Lone Star does to those not super knowledgeable of the sciences?
MA: Our approach is unique. We cover the grow vertical with indoor grow technologies we have submitted patents for hydroponic-LED hops and cannabis systems. We will be able to produce over 10,000 plants per grow three times per year, equaling 30,000 hops plants per acre per year vs 750 plants per acre per year outdoors. We will also be able to produce 2 to 3 times the amount of flowers per plant per grow and the flowers are 2 to 3 times the amount of concentrated oils per flower. That is a total of over 180 times the production of an outdoor acre per year using 1/10th of the water and guaranteed 18 hours of full spectrum “sunlight” per day, no matter what mother nature says outside. We expect to do the same for hemp and medical marijuana.
Our extraction process is the same as it would be for cannabis. We take the extractions and make medical grade pharmaceutical products with the extracts and we make them in a pharmacy setting. This way, we are prepared for doctors to “prescribe” our products to their patients without the need for a dispensary model. In our view, CBD should be an “over the counter” product while THC should be a prescription only behind the counter product regulated by doctors, and administered by a trained medical professional like a pharmacist. Our model is the only “TRUE” medical model in existence and we intend to initiate this model in Texas.
JK: Since I noticed LoneStar is a pioneer in scientific research, what types of research are done at LoneStar and how could the results of the research be useful towards the American public?
MA: Since Xanthohumol, CBD and THC are such wonder molecules when it comes to the body maintaining balance and healing itself, the only question is “how to administer it”.If you look at medical products, topical, sublingual, oral (gelcap) and direct IV therapy, they should be introduced and studied. Standardized dosing should be established, but nobody will take the leap to figure that out, so we will.
First, we will start with chronic pain as the target since over $650 billion dollars are spent on pain management each year, more than cancer, heart disease and diabetes combined. All of our products will be tested for efficacy and written up in a clinical trial for data capture. This is what doctors will accept. Once short term studies are done, we will start selling products while the longer term studies continue.
After that, our research targets for the most dangerous and common chronic conditions (cancer, Alzheimer’s, Stroke, Diabetes, Heart disease, autoimmune disorders) will become important. If we plan on being a legitimate medical company, we have to act like one. In fact, that is why we started TexMedVentures.net – an investment company for doctors to invest into LoneStar Life Sciences. Doctors literally have the opportunity to put their money where their “therapy” is.
JK: How would the passing of Texas HB 1325 (legalizing hemp production) be beneficial for LoneStar Sciences?
MA: Texas legalizing hemp will be huge for LoneStar AgriTech because we expect to produce millions of certified hemp seeds every 10 weeks in out of our energy efficient greenhouses. Texas already produces more than 45% of the cotton for the US, which means farmers wanting to convert from toxic cotton to ground purifying hemp which produces twice as much fiber per acre than cotton with 1/5th the water use will be looking for local Texas made seed. We are also working with the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center to make sure our genetics are protected and that we develop the highest quality of genetics for Texas farmers. That gives us a strategic advantage over other out of state “seed” companies from Colorado, California, and Oregon.
We are in discussions with lab extraction partners that can process over 1000 pounds of hemp biomass per hour giving us the ability to not only sell our seeds to Texas farmers, but also create farmer coops per county and provide bonuses based on flower and fiber processing. Having both verticals in a state expected to be the “Hemp Volume King” in two years will give us a huge strategic advantage in Texas.
With our medical vertical, LoneStar MedTech, we will then be able to create our own medical grade products from our own extraction supply through a pharmacy model. Our LoneStar Institute vertical will be able to offer CME accreditation to doctors wanting to prescribe our products to their patients, and they will feel comfortable about the quality control because our entire model is genuinely medical in structure.
This is the main reasons doctors do not participate with medical cannabis programs in other states because they cannot control what the patient will get. With our model, doctors will have complete faith in the quality of the products in a standardized dose and under the state board of pharmacy for quality control and educated by our institute on how to prescribe responsibly.
I also think that THC has incredible medicinal application that Texas just simply is too stubbier, too ignorant or too arrogant to admit. If they were to follow our lead, we would be able to establish a controlled THC program for products that could be available for medical research in the state of Texas by Texas Medical Schools; Baylor, Rice, University of Texas, etc. and through the military. In fact, San Antonio has the largest PTSD research center in the world, and the state of Texas limits the choice a veterans in Texas from cannabis. I think that is an embarrassing travesty.
JK: What does the future of LoneStar look like in terms of the scientific research and the types of sciences that the company studies?
MA: By having ALL of the necessary verticals to create an integrated platform, you have to start with pure plants. The vision is to create an octopus, one animal with multiple tentacles, and grow it into a kraken, the monster of mythical proportions! Our AgriTech division will have indoor growing with controlled environments, allowing us to create medical grade plants for medical grade research. Our MedTech division will create the extractions, production, branding, marketing, and distribution. Our Institute division will conduct all of the research, medical training, CME accreditation, and create our own medical association for doctors called the TexMed Foundation for Compassionate Care.
In fact, we have already created the world’s first medical cannabis magazine for doctors and their patients called MD420 which launched this month (see TXMD420.com). This was designed to speak the medical truth and poke holes (and fun) at the governmental ignorance regarding medical cannabis. By creating our own medical education platform, and our own medical society (which will be $35/month, which is $420 per year) that will act as a lobbying firm to give Texas doctors a voice in making medical cannabis a legitimate medicine in the LoneStar state.