It has long been common for Universities to partner with corporations to perform sponsored research and more. By combining the skilled students and professors with a company's capital and vision, breakthroughs and major developments can flourish.
Just announced today, 22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE:XXII) signed a multi-year research deal with the University of Virginia to focus on hemp genetics and more. We believe this partnership will be a fruitful one for 22nd Century Group, as the deal also grants XXII the exclusive commercialization license for the lucrative research findings.
Hemp Research
There are a few objectives that the University of Virginia is supposed to be focusing on when they endeavor into their sponsored hemp research. Over the coming 3 years, the research objectives are:
Create and engineer proprietary hemp plants that are guaranteed to fall below industrial hemp's maximum THC threshold.
Enhance additional hemp plant characteristics deemed to bolster its ability to grow and thrive in Virginia and other states with lots of tobacco farming.
Study medically significant cannabinoid extracts that are derived from the hemp crops.
Both hemp and marijuana are different kinds of the cannabis plant. One major difficulty that faces hemp farmers is the fact that they have to remove and kill the crops that contain higher than 0.3% or less of the psychoactive cannabinoid, THC. By eliminating these risks for the hemp farmer, cultivation can become more efficient and less costly.
Hemp > Tobacco
As the 3rd largest tobacco producing state, Virginia has had a flourishing tobacco industry for years. So have other neighboring states like Kentucky, Tennessee and last but certainly not least North Carolina. The thing about tobacco farming is that it is extremely land-intensive, and there is only one major use of tobacco - smoking. Of course there is smokeless tobacco (chewing tobacco) and other tobacco products, but hemp has a long list of products that can be made from it.
As we mentioned in our article yesterday about Cannabis Sativa, Inc.'s upcoming organic hemp farm, hemp is extremely renewable and it has a long list of uses for everything from textiles to nutritional supplements. If 22nd Century Group were successful in developing hemp that could guarantee a farmer's crops fall below THC thresholds, in addition to genetically optimizing the plants to perform in these tobacco farming climates...hemp would become a lucrative alternative crop for these farmers to grow.
Research Funding
The 3 years of sponsored research that University of Virginia will be carrying out is of course paid for by 22nd Century Group. With an approximately $1.1 million investment from XXII over the coming years, the University of Virginia can move forward with this research that we believe is going to greatly benefit 22nd Century Group.
Since XXII is left with all commercialization rights that come from this research, any valuable intellectual property (IP) that is developed will be theirs to license and profit from.
Conclusion
We hope this was a useful breakdown of the grand potential of this research deal for 22nd Century Group. For more information or custom stock charts on XXII, be sure to check out the company's marijuana stock profile here. To explore our full list of NYSE listed marijuana stocks, click here.
Also, don't forget to connect with The Daily Marijuana Observer via social media so you never miss a marijuana news update. Links to our profiles can be found to the right of this article. For XXII's press release regarding the research deal, click here.
