Based out of Lethbridge, Alberta, API Labs has developed a business concept to create a vertically integrated poppy industry to replace the current imported supply of fine chemicals derived from poppy alkaloids. This project will focus on the development of the necessary cultivation and processing know how needed to establish and capture the Canadian market.
What we do
The poppy is mainly recognized as the source of illegal drugs such as opium and heroin. However, many poppy varieties also produce other valuable compounds called active pharmaceutical ingredients.
API’s primary “thebaine” poppy variety, Papaver Somniferum, is a rich source of thebaine. Thebaine is the starting point for the further synthesis of a range of medicinally valuable natural and synthetic alkaloids including codeine, oxycodone, oxymorphone, nalbuphine, naloxone, naltrexone, buprenorphine and etorphine. An important feature of API’s thebaine poppy is that it does not produce components of illicit drugs nor other compounds which can be readily be converted to illegal materials.
Canada was the largest importer of codeine in the world in 2006 and is now second only to the United States. Current poppy cultivation for the pharmaceutical industry is limited to Australia, China, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, India, Japan, Slovakia, Spain, Macedonia, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
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