In Israel, Czech Republic and Australia, Better Pharmaceuticals is taking part in open clinical trials for children with autism in major hospitals, universities and medical centers, including Technion and Ichilov Hospital, and the results are revelatory.
One mother, “Liat” with a child who has severe autism could not send her son to a normal public school due to his constant episodes of mania and aggression, often banging his head against the wall and causing harm to himself. Once the medically-prescribed dosage of organic cannabis was administered to the child, medical doctors, along with his parents, have seen new levels of social-skills, adaptability, relaxation and cognitive improvement. These results are non-coincidental.
Better Pharmaceuticals and its founder Yohai Golan-Gild, an American born autodidact, has the unique IP and know-how to grow 100% organic medical cannabis (one of two companies in the world) that employs a whole plant solution, as opposed to chemical synthesizes and uncrystallized forms of CBD by its competitors that makes the actual medicine unstable and non-uniform.
With With the Israeli Government adopting the Medical Grade Cannabis Governmental Resolution in 2007, becoming the first country to allow medical research, cannabis cultivation & production, there’s no denying that medical cannabis is a major force to be reckoned with and his synthetic and traditional pharmaceutical companies scrambling, both in Israel and around the world.
MARY spoke with Better Pharmaceuticals founder Yohai Golan-Gild in this exclusive interview below.
Tell me about Better’s 100% organic cannabis and why your product is different from competitors.
Better is the only federally licensed company in the world that uses a fully organic feeding and treating regiment, using only organic materials and products, NO use of any chemical of any type from seed to final Product – better is the only company worldwide cultivating tones of MGC under a strict fully organic cultivation regiment.
Over the last 9 yrs, we have been treating hundreds of children and adolescents for severe medical ailments, most of which are children who are sensitive to any type of compound they receive. As the founder of Better, I decided at the beginning that no matter the cost, that Better would ensure the safest and cleanest medical treatment possible to address these specific cases among all our patients.
How were you able to create the technology to secure 100% organic medical cannabis that is sustainable?
To make our system sustainable we had to develop from the ground-up by redesigning every part of the production system to be able to achieve the same accurate, standardized results time after time.
Using methods and knowledge collected from many other different types of agricultural sectors, we were able to put together a customized cultivation system and protocols using specific equipment and utilizing technologies specifically engineered for the task of growing. We harvested a specific soil, created tailor-made feeding regiments, prevented and corrected treatment of harmful insects, diseases or dangerous molds, along with developing a specific drying and curing processes. All these factors have enabled us to build a very specific one of a kind system that today produces one of cleanest highest quality MGC in the world.
Why move from California, the world’s mecca for medical and now recreational cannabis, to the burgeoning country of Israel to open better?
It was clear to me, things were not going to get better in California for a while, but contrarily, I expected conditions to get worst for cultivators in CA, before they would improve. And so when I heard about the opportunity to be able to receive the 5th federal license in the world here in Israel, a chance to be a world leader by setting up in country that leads the way in technology, agriculture and off course medical treatment. An Israeli federal license would allow me to research, cultivate, export, but more even more importantly, to treat real patients who have no other treatment but MGC. This paradise for federally-approved growing was too much to pass up, even though it meant leaving home and everything I built in California. I decided it was the right move to make at right time if I really wanted to try and bring real medical evolution to the underground recreational world known as cannabis.
What is Better doing differently in Israel as compared to the work and products of your competitors?
From the beginning, it was obvious to me that since we were dealing with very sick patients (severe refractory, Epilepsy, Cancer, MS, etc. we needed to find a way to give them the cleanest treatment we could. At the time, no other company (close to our size) in the world was cultivating organically with no use of chemicals or any other harmful substances generally used for the process (used by 97% of cultivators today). For example, we use our own mix for soil in addition to many other secrets that we were able customize in to a brand new system we built over the last nine years. The experience I gained over the last 17 years has given better the tools to produce one of the cleanest products while still maintaining the highest quality at a low production price.
Who are Better’s target customers?
The company is actively treating on a monthly basis thousands of patients, suffering from a variety of different medical diseases and illnesses, from children to the elderly, from Palliative care to Cancer, MS, Autism, Aids, Epilepsy and much more. Our plan is to be able to treat anyone in the need for our treatment anywhere anyone needs it.
Today, we are paving the way in the treatment of children and adolescents suffering from severe refractory epilepsy without any other treatment available, using our proprietary strain bread and customized by Better called Epione. This treatment is a life changer for the patients and their families.
In the near future we will be launching a new product line based on CBD to address everyone who might be in need from nutraceutical’s and food supplements to anti-aging, skin care and cosmetics.
Will the American audience eventually be able to purchase and consume better organic medical cannabis?
Yes, starting off with universities and hospitals for clinical studies and research which we plan to commence by the year 2020 when our GMP master files are all finalized and approved. We are currently building our state-of-the-art cultivation facility in Australia and will be ready to export to the USA for research only once we can acquire a federal license, which excites us!
Will medical cannabis become more widely available in Israel, and what will better’s role be in the expanding industry?
Israel is expanding its medical cannabis pilot and setting new regulations to come in place with the new “reform” that is expected to start in the beginning of 2019. According to the Israeli Minister of Health, today 30,000 patients are treated on a monthly basis for a range of medical conditions. Once the “reform” starts an estimated 100 additional doctors will have the ability to issue a permit to whomever they see fit. Once that becomes a possibility, we expect the amount to rise rapidly to 100,000 in the first year only. better aims to keep being at the forefront of treatment and research, allowing us to cater and customize treatments for more debilitating ailments, allowing us to reach more and more patients. We expect to increase our client base to 15%-20% of licensed patients in 2019, and even more by 2020. In addition, today as the only organic producer in the country, better has been receiving an additional 5%-7% from other suppliers due to our organic products.
We are consistently and continuously researching and developing new strains to address more ailments, continuing to supply hundreds of children with the only treatment that works, Better’s “Epione” while still subsidizing at least 95% of its cost. We plan to keep leading the way by proving and promoting the treatment with organic MGC based products.
Better’s vision is to be able to reach every patient in need regardless of the country anyone lives in so as to receive the same accurate treatment time after time, anywhere in the world.
