Wana to sell line of tinctures, partners with Lafayette’s Quicksilver Scientific

BOULDER — Wana Brands has partnered with a fellow Colorado-based company to develop a new line of products utilizing some of the latest in nutraceutical technology.

Wana has partnered with Lafayette-based Quicksilver Scientific Inc. to debut a line of nano-tinctures using Quicksilver Nano Technology.

The decision to branch into tinctures stems from a desire for Wana to offer a variety of products meeting the diverse needs of customers, Mike Hennesy, director of innovation for Wana Brands, told BizWest.

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“This all plays into us having a portfolio of different onset times,” he said. “People are using cannabis for a lot of different reasons and want to consume it a lot of different ways.”

Many of Wana’s popular products are edibles. Those products can have longer onset times, Hennesy said, because they must be eaten and processed through the liver before the effects of the THC hit the brain. Because the THC is metabolized through the liver, it often has a specific high feeling that might not be the experience someone is looking for. Smoking, meanwhile, immediately hits the bloodstream through the lungs, offering a much faster onset time of the effects on the brain. However, not everyone wants to smoke, especially if they are a medical patient.

Using a nano-tincture, he said, can offer a two- to five-minute onset of effects. Users take the tincture by putting the desired amount of drops in their mouth and letting it dissolve. The THC is absorbed orally through the cheeks and tongue into the bloodstream.

But it has taken developments in technology for tinctures to be effective and for nano-tinctures to be developed, which is where Quicksilver came in. For a long time, the compound particles of cannabinoids — or other natural plant extracts, for that matter — were too large to be absorbed effectively, Quicksilver CEO Chris Shade told BizWest. That would result in a lot of wasted product that wouldn’t actually hit the bloodstream and give the desired effects. But the natural products world was able to adopt some of the technology developed by the pharmaceutical industry to create nanoparticles — particles 100 nanometers or smaller, with a nanometer being one one-millionth of a millimeter. These ultra-small particles are able to passively diffuse across the mucous membranes into capillaries and into the bloodstream, Shade said. That elevated ability of absorption is called bioavailability. Products made with nanoparticles that have a high bioavailability will likely be the future of tinctures, said Shade. While there are tinctures that don’t use nanoparticles, nano-tinctures do and that’s what Quicksilver is developing with Wana. 

Because Quicksilver is seen as a leader in developing nano tinctures and Wana is a leader in edibles, the two companies decided to partner on the Wana Brands Nano Technology Tincture.

“Wana represented a high-quality player in the space,” Shade told BizWest. “There are a lot of companies coming in and out of the space and the quality on a business level and product level is all over the place. Wana represented the pinnacle of quality in the edibles space; it’s ethical and very focused on a good customer experience. It was a natural fit for us, as a very premium manufacturer in the nutraceuticals space. We’re careful who we partner with, and Wana really fit the checkmarks.”

Wana will be licensing the technology, ingredients and equipment from Quicksilver, which trained Wana staff how to formulate the products. Quicksilver will also receive a royalty fee on products sold. Hennesy added that in addition to Quicksilver being one of the best companies scientifically, it was also able to develop a formula that tasted great, which was an important factor for Wana.

Hennesy said to expect the nano-tincture to launch in the second quarter this year, and that it will be available in three formulas: a high CBD concentration, a high THC concentration and an equal parts CBD and THC formula.

Both companies are continuing to explore the possibilities of nanoparticles and cannabis.

“Our broader vision is to bring different compounds from nature from other plants together with cannabinoids to create the next level of natural medicine,” Shade said.

For Hennesy, as director of innovation for Wana, he’s interested in exploring the possibilities of using nanoparticles in edibles such as Wana drops or gummies, so they can have an onset time of 10 minutes instead of 45 minutes to an hour.

As Wana expands to products such as vaporizers and tinctures, the goal is to offer a solution that can meet a variety of cannabis users needs. Its vapes and tinctures offer its fastest onset in just minutes, while most of its candy options start to hit within 30 minutes to an hour. The durations of those products last an hour to a few hours. The company also has extended-release capsules that can last from eight to 12 hours, ideal for patients who need all-day relief. The company is also working on transdermal products that can last 72 hours.

“We’re innovating products to meet every range of need humans have, from all day long to ‘I need this medicine right away,’” Hennesy said. “We’re trying to match products with people’s needs.”