API Labs Information

API Labs is a recently established, for profit, pharmaceutical fine chemicals processing company whose goal is to create a vertically integrated poppy industry in Canada. The opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) is an herbaceous annual plant that has been cultivated for thousands of years. Apart from the value of poppy seed as a condiment and edible oil and as a source of potential biofuel, the opium poppy produces a unique assortment of valuable alkaloid compounds that can be processed into active pharmaceutical ingredients. For example, morphine, codeine, thebaine, oripavine and papaverine are several opioids produced from high pharmaceutical value Papaver somniferum. API Labs intend to establish a three-tier revenue stream based on the sale of seeds to the culinary market, development of an alkaloid industry and the commercialization of poppy oils. While the sale of seeds offers the most immediate source of income, the alkaloid industry will ultimately provide the largest revenue stream. As the only G8 country (with the possible exception of Russia) that does not cultivate or process poppies, Canada imports all $575 million of annual retail sales of poppy derived pharmaceuticals. The aim of API Labs' business plan is to replace current imports with a domestically produced product. If realized, this would be hugely beneficial to the security of Canada's pharmaceutical supplies as well as a significant boost to the national economy. API Labs has established a world class, experienced and competent management team along with an impressive Expert Advisory Panel whose members have outstanding reputations, both nationally and internationally, in such diverse fields as science, business management, security, and public service. API Labs has been conducting research on Papaver somniferum since 2011. This research has focused on the generation of novel varieties with unique alkaloid compositions as well as agronomic investigations into the feasibility of growing poppies as a crop in Southern Alberta. Broadly speaking, the purpose of the ongoing research is two-fold: generate novel lines of Papaver somniferum with altered alkaloid profiles and establish best practices for field cultivation.