Colorado’s First Licensed
Cannabis Research Facility
COMBINING CANNABIS AND SCIENCE
VISION
MedPharm is a phytopharmaceutical and intellectual property holding company that has been created to develop innovative cannabis products, using accepted pharmaceutical formulation techniques, to reliably produce identifiable and replicable dosage forms for human use.
MISSION
MedPharm will lead the industry in developing products to improve the human condition and better the lives of those who suffer from disease. It is MedPharm’s intent to position itself to have safe, reliable, proven products ready for Phase I formulations when such trials become available.
OBJECTIVE
Scale and implement a state-based production laboratory model to test, create and produce pharmaceutical-type cannabis, using intellectual property or proprietary formulations and methods for a variety of dosage forms.
OPERATION MODEL/SCIENCE METHODOLOGY
To provide cannabis pharmaceutical-type products using current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) that would include pre-formulation, formulation development, small scale commercial manufacturing, analytical method development and validation, routine quality control analysis, and stability studies.
To create pharmaceutical dosage forms and produce ingredients utilizing pharmaceutical technology to be used in the delivery of cannabis extracts. The goal is to provide a reliable clinical effect through the use of well-crafted and well-researched oil analytics and dosage forms.
MedPharm is not making specific therapeutic claims. The use of the term pharmaceutical, pharmaceutical grade, pharmaceutical dosage forms, etc. are indicative of the process by which new formulation products will be created with the intent of accurately identifying the active ingredients and the amount of each in each dosage form using best practices associated with traditional pharmacy formulations. MedPharm is seeking to take existing anecdotal evidence and through its own formulation process further identify which cannabis varieties and strains are best suited to which disease states.
MedPharm’s founders include a pioneer and leader in cannabis cultivation, a leading pharmacy company, which specializes in formulation development and the world’s leading plant extraction company.
Leveraging our proprietary Lipophilic Enhanced Absorption Formulation (L.E.A.F.™) technology, MedPharm can target specific dosage categories, including oral, transdermal and the possibility sterile in the future.
OUR RESEARCH FACILITY
Our Services
Licensing of Technology, Products and Brands
Includes: grow, extraction, R&D, new formulations, or reformulating into products/brands for creams, suppositories, vaporizers, brands like: become, Batch etc.
Management and Consulting Services
Hands-on training of product creation and operational methodologies. MX, LLC leverages MedPharm Holdings for oversight, product development and employees.
Lease Fees on Property and Equipment
MX, LLC uses MedPharm facility and subleases the property with equipment MedPharm Holdings owns. This makes for a scalable business solution that can be taken to other markets.
Current Licensees
Consulting
Consulting Services
MedPharm has consulting services and can be reached at (720) 697-7555
Our Brands
Contact Us
ALBERT GUTIERREZ, MS
CEO
Albert is an operationally focused executive who leverages his strategic vision to increase production. He has a background in program management and portfolio management. Albert is an Agile Certified Practitioner through the Project Management Institute, Certified Scrum Master, Agile Coach and Certified Scrum Product Owner. Albert has been a part of, and helped build, many successful companies to include: ClickFox, The Regis Company, Qualvu, CBDDOSE.com, HealthGrades.com and Medicine Man. He is responsible for successfully managing several multi-million-dollar projects from: Visa, MasterCard, Google, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, Accenture, AT&T, Verizon, John Deere, Bose and many more. Albert holds a B.S. from Metro State University and a graduate degree from Colorado State University Business School.
ANDY WILLIAMS
MANAGING PARTNER
Andy Williams is the President and CEO of Medicine Man in Colorado. He is veteran of the US Army, and served three years as a Cavalry Scout in the 3rd Infantry Division. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Southern Colorado in Pueblo, CO.
Andy has worked in a wide range of manufacturing industries as an industrial engineer, and in leadership positions. He is a lifelong entrepreneur. In 2009 the Ogden letter was published stating the Department of Justice would not utilize their resources to prosecute those individuals following state marijuana laws. That was the call to a new opportunity in the marijuana industry for Andy and his brother Pete.
In December of 2009 they launched Medicine Man with the concept of being the Costco of marijuana. Six years later Medicine Man is now a $17 million a year corporation and has branched out to assist start up marijuana companies and grow facilities across the country with their consulting company, Medicine Man Technologies. They are known as industry leaders throughout the United States.
DR. CHRIS NELSON
MANAGING PARTNER
Dr. Chris Nelson is the owner of MedPharm Iowa, and he is also the president and CEO of Kemin Industries, a global ingredient manufacturer that has been dedicated to using applied science to improve the quality of life for over half a century.
As a global company touching 3.8 billion people every day with its products, Kemin is committed to improving the quality, safety and efficacy of food, feed and health related products to feed a growing population and be a resource for others in need. Committed to feed and food safety, Kemin maintains top-of-the-line manufacturing facilities where over 500 specialty ingredients are made for humans and animals in the global feed and food industries, as well as the health, nutrition and beauty markets. The company provides product solutions and options to customers in more than 120 countries.
Dr. Nelson began his career with Kemin in 1980 as director of research and development (R&D). Since 1993, he has served as president and CEO of Kemin. Distinguished among the company’s many commercial and scientific advances is the fact that Kemin pioneered the process of isolating and purifying the antioxidant molecule lutein for human consumption in supplements and fortified foods. Researchers have identified lutein as playing a central role in human eye health, specifically in reducing risk of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of adult blindness. Over 60 million people consume lutein daily through multivitamins or concentrated lutein supplements. Under his leadership at Kemin, the company has more than quadrupled in size and now employs nearly 2,500 people.
Dr. Nelson received his undergraduate degree at Northwestern University and his Ph.D. in biochemistry and biophysics from Washington State University. He holds 15 patents and has authored numerous peer reviewed, published research studies.
Dr. Nelson has been named one of the top 100 CEO Leaders in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). He serves on the boards of the Des Moines Symphony and the Des Moines Community Foundation, among others. He continues to have a passion for science education and serves on the Board of the Science Center of Iowa, where he helped lead a successful development effort for construction of the $62 million interactive learning center.
ANDREW ANDERSON
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EMMELINE ATTOLINI
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JASON COLEMAN
Jason served in the United Sates Navy, in the submarine service during the first Gulf War. He was born and raised in the Northwest corner of Alabama, in the small town of Tuscumbia where he fostered a sense of family and hospitality that comes naturally. Jason is a bright, resolute sales representative that takes the initiative to understand his clients.
He previously worked at Medicine Man Denver for more than 6 years as a valued resource and a wealth of cannabis knowledge. Jason's service at the counter helped provide consumers with beneficial information and he continues to do so today, as cannabis is truly his passion. Jason has over 14 years of customer service experience and has a knack for helping companies achieve their goals.
MAX MORDINI
Compliance and Packaging Manager
Max is a seasoned professional in the Marijuana Industry. He is a Colorado State University Business School graduate and brings passion for development and growth. He previously served as the Compliance Manager for Infinite Wellness in Fort Collins. His analytical and compliance expertise has allowed him to oversee compliance for multiple production facilities, simultaneously. He has successfully utilized his strong technical skills to optimize productivity while ensuring absolute compliance and is an exceptional addition to the MedPharm team.
Scott Karolchyk, MS, RPh
Director of Formulation Development
Scott is an accomplished product development leader with extensive experience in pharmaceutical formulation design and development, compounded preparation research, and business management. He is proactive and tenacious in applying knowledge to project initiatives, utilizing communication across divisions to influence and drive project teams with a particular focus on successful delivery of new formulations, clinical trial supplies, regulatory submissions and commercial deliverables.
He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. He established a state-of-the-art compounding and nutritional pharmacy, Pharmacy Creations, specializing in problem solving and pharmaceutical care with a particular focus on high risk sterile admixtures for the pain management and ophthalmologic markets. He received the New Jersey Innovative Pharmacist Award in 2008 and has several patents including an ophthalmic injection for cataract surgery which currently has 15% of the US market as a compounded medication.
stefanie maletich
Extraction and Research Chemist
Stefanie earned a BS in chemistry with a minor in sociology from Regis University in 2011. She began her career at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, first as an undergraduate intern and then as a research technician. While at NREL, she performed compositional analysis of biomass in the National Bioenergy Center, specializing in chromatography and spectroscopy techniques. Stefanie participated in notable projects like the 2012 Achievement of Ethanol Cost Targets, which demonstrated advances in cost-competitive cellulosic ethanol production and technology.
In 2015, Stefanie transitioned to the cannabis industry, first as the Supervisory Analyst at Axenico and then as a Chemist at TEQ Analytical Laboratories. She adapted her analytical chemistry experience to the cannabis plant and its products, developing several new methodologies and procedures at both laboratories. Stefanie joined the MedPharm team in late 2017 and is committed to applying her skills on the production and research side of the cannabis industry.
T.J. JOHNSRUD, BSPh
MANAGING PARTNER
TJ Johnsrud, BSPh is founder and president of NuCara Management Group, LLC, headquartered in Conrad, Iowa, which oversees pharmacy locations in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota and Texas. The NuCara pharmacies are jointly owned by NuCara Management Group and Dakota Drug. In addition to community pharmacy practice, NuCara offers Home Medical Equipment, specialty pharmacy, respiratory services and is an industry leader in sterile and non‐sterile compounding developing patent-ready formulations.
Mr. Johnsrud has been honored for his commitment to excellence in pharmacy in Iowa with the 1991 Bowl of Hygiea, the 2001 Robert G. Gibbs Distinguished Pharmacist Award, the 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy and the 2014 Osterhaus Medal for Lifetime Achievement.
He has served as Past President and remains a current member of the Iowa Pharmacy Association where he is Chairman of the Task Force on the Iowa Pharmacists New Practice Model. He was the first Chairman of the Board of PACE Alliance multi‐state pharmacy buying group. He is a member of the National Community Pharmacists Association, the American Pharmaceutical Association, the National Association of Chain Drugstores, and a lifetime member of the University of Iowa Alumni Association.
He has served the University of Iowa on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the College of Pharmacy, on the College of Pharmacy Second Century Fundraising Campaign Committee, the University of Iowa College Curriculum Advisory Council and by participating as a President’s Club member since 1983, Golden Hawk member since 1982 and the Kinnick Society since 2003.Mr. Johnsrud was a Liberal A Arts major at Creighton University before graduating with high distinction in 1966 from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Science in pharmacy.
TOM SWEGLE
Partner
Tom Swegle is classically trained in Marketing. Tom has honed his expertise while stewarding one of the highest profiled brands in the World. Over the past 20 years, Tom has contributed to the continued success of demonstrating value through strategic branding and market planning.
A Fortune 150 Executive and Marketing Leader: Tom received a "Gold" acknowledgement for healthcare branding by the National Healthcare Marketing Report. Tom has been fortunate to enjoy a diverse marketing and management career that has included key positions with well-known firms and brands including John Deere.
Entrepreneurial by nature, Tom has more than two decades of experience in start-ups and turnaround management: Over the past 20 years he has been utilizing marketing experience in building communication programs with small and midsize businesses. Tom has a solid track record of increasing brand equity, reducing costs, and streamlining communications in a wide range of situations.
Skilled in all areas of marketing management with richly varied communication experience. Tom has a record of exceeding company objectives achieving double-digit gains in awareness, revenues, and profits. Successful in developing product expansion throughout the U.S. and worldwide, building premier distribution networks, creating innovative advertising, and expanding into new industries and markets.
Tom currently is a partner with MedCara Pharmaceuticals, where he serves in the capacity of Chief Executive Officer as well as the Director of Business Operations with VetRxDirect.com Tom's career path has included positions of expanding responsibility including Senior Account Manager, Marketing Director, Corporate Marketing Manager, and Senior Vice President, Business Operations, and Chief Executive Officer. He has a degree in Marketing from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa
TYRELL R. TOWLE, Ph.D.
Director of Chemistry and Extraction
Tyrell received his B.S. in chemistry and minor in mathematics from the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington in 2007. He received his Ph.D. in medicinal and natural products chemistry from The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa in 2013. His thesis research centered around the design, synthesis, and evaluation of fluoroquinolone antibiotics to overcome antibiotic resistant bacteria. He received numerous awards including a 2012 American Chemical Society Medicinal Chemistry Fellowship (sponsored by Richard B. Silverman) and National Institutes of Health T32 Pharmacological Sciences Training Grants. Prior to attending graduate school, Tyrell worked as a chemist in the pulp & paper manufacture, wastewater treatment, and petroleum industries in Bellingham, Washington.
After graduating from the University of Iowa, Tyrell moved back to his home state of Washington to become actively involved in the emerging state-legal cannabis industry. Initially focusing his attention on cannabis extraction methods and safety, he shifted his focus to the analytical chemistry of cannabis while acting as Scientific Director of an I-502 certified quality assurance laboratory in Washington State. Tyrell is passionate about the chemistry and potential therapeutic uses for cannabis and has been a volunteer for the American Chemical Society’s Cannabis Chemistry Subdivision (a subdivision of the Division of Chemical Health and Safety) since 2015.
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