OTTAWA, ON, CANADA, August 31, 2022 — Ekidna is proud to announce the launch of a fast, accurate, and decentralized lab-on-a-chip testing solution for the commercial cannabis industry.Â
Ekidna is the first company to bring lab-on-a-chip technology to cannabis growers and product manufacturers to test cannabis samples for key potency markers: THC, THCa, CBD, and CBDa. The Canadian company has spent the past three years working with producers, including Canopy Growth Corporation, to test and refine the equipment.
The patented solution will help large and small producers eliminate production bottlenecks, maximize operational efficiency, and enjoy a faster time to market. For producers who wish to scale their operations, the Ekidna solution will be a powerful asset.
“Ekidna is the right technology at the right time,” said Ekidna CEO Nic Boileau. “No other testing solution on the market offers our combination of speed, accuracy, and usability. The cannabis industry is starting to mature, and organizations need every advantage they can get to survive. We believe that Ekidna will provide one such advantage.”
“Testing is a key component in getting products to market faster. Anything that shortens the testing time frame is money saved in our operations,” said Tim Saunders, former CFO of Canopy Growth Corporation.
For licensed commercial cannabis growers and product manufacturers, testing has been a consistent challenge. Even large producers, who have their own on-site labs, experience production bottlenecks and idle resources due to the long turnaround times for centralized testing with the industry-leading high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) technology. For smaller producers who have to mail samples to a lab service, serious delays to market and lower quality products due to lack of knowledge during production can be the result.
Ekidna’s technology delivers error rates of +/- 1% by weight, which matches the accuracy of labs using HPLC or UPLC technology.
Consisting of a handheld reader, a test kit, and easy-to-use software, the testing solution can be used without scientific training. There is no need to build and equip an expensive lab: multiple employees will be able to use the solution simultaneously almost anywhere on a production floor. This ease of use enables more testing of product samples for better decision making throughout the production process.
The new test has a wide variety of use cases, including monitoring THC and THCa levels throughout growth and manufacturing for recreational products, ensuring potency for CBD-based products, R&D on new strains, and confirming that hemp crops have low enough levels of cannabinoids. Early knowledge of cannabinoid levels can help growers and producers earn more for their products, and in some cases, avoid having to throw out entire crops or production runs.
As of 2020, the cannabis market in North America was estimated at $27 billion in terms of annual sales, with $1.3 billion spent on testing alone by commercial growers in North America.
According to investment bank Jefferies Group LLC, the global cannabis industry will be worth $130 billion by 2029 as legalization continues in the Americas and Europe. Others, such as Grandview Research, project a CAGR of 24% to $66.3 billion by 2025.
About Ekidna
Ekidna is the lab-on-a-chip that rapidly tests cannabis samples for key potency markers: THC, THCa, CBD, and CBDa. The fast, accurate, and decentralized cannabis testing technology helps licensed producers eliminate production bottlenecks, reduce operational costs, and bring their products to market faster. Ekidna’s patented technology delivers error rates of +/- 1% by weight, which is as accurate as a lab using industry leading HPLC or UPLC technology.
Ekidna is based in Ottawa, Canada, and is led by an executive team with deep expertise in electrical sensors, chemical diagnostics and biology.
For More Information
Please contact Nic Boileau at info@ekidnasensing.com or by phone at 613-696-5938.
You can view the Ekidna website at ekidna.ca, and access downloadable image assets at ekidna.ca/all-news
