Targeting the endocannabinoid system to improve lives
Our journey began when co-founder Randall Ussery endeavored to ease his father's chronic pain caused by multiple sclerosis.
"My dad was taking a regimen of drugs to modulate his pain. Looking for alternatives, we tried cannabinoid-based remedies. We saw some really positive effects, but it was completely inconsistent. We never knew what to expect—even when re-purchasing the same product!"
Like Randall’s dad, up to 30% of the world’s population, or about 2.5 billion people, suffer from chronic pain—equivalent to the populations of China and India combined.
Today Nalu Bio is transforming health and wellness to enhance quality of life and address chronic health issues by targeting the endocannabinoid system (ECS).
A new era in health and wellness soultions
2024 Milestones
We designed our AI Drug Discovery Platform to accelerate the development of de novo small molecules by harnessing the endocannabinoid system (ECS), and plan to go to market in two categories:
1. Non-High Supplements
Formulated to transform women’s health where the ECS is especially effective, we are combining cannabinoids with specific vitamins through predictive AI modeling to maximize benefits for consistent and safe results. We will be launching products to help women address some of their top wellness challenges—weight management, sleep, mobility, and stress.
2. Non-Addictive Pain Medicines
Our platform can produce hundreds of AI-generated compounds and prioritize them within a week. We are developing new chemical entities (NCEs) as non-addictive pain therapeutics, aimed at replacing opioids without side effects. Additionally, we scaled the production of a minor cannabinoid and licensed it to a contract manufacturing organization.
2023 Milestones
The team kicked off the year by raising a $12M Series A. We built a chemistry platform, enabling us to synthesize minor cannabinoids cost-effectively and generate a library of new chemical entities (NCEs) with improved performance over natural cannabinoids. We have developed a robust IP portfolio, including method-of-use patents for cannabinoids, hundreds of derivatives, new chemical entities, and analogs.
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2022 Milestones
Diversifying their endeavors, the team successfully expanded their proprietary chemistry platform beyond CBD to encompass minor cannabinoids. Next, the team created its first library of compounds, featuring New Chemical Entities (NCEs) and derivatives. Rigorous bioassays were conducted, revealing promising potential across various therapeutic areas. A strategic partnership was forged with a prominent cannabinoid distributor to commercialize rare cannabinoids
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Building our library of chemistry-derived compunds
2021 Milestones
The team filed patents on their proprietary chemistry platform, defining the technology required to create chemistry-derived cannabinoids and derivatives—now embraced by manufacturers for improved cost-efficiency, scalability, availability, quality, and consistency. They also partnered with world-class scientists to validate that chemistry-derived cannabinoids were molecularly identical to the plant. Next, the team established a global supply chain through manufacturing partnerships—proving that patented organic chemistry can scale cannabinoids—just like aspirin, vitamins, and caffeine. This achievement positioned chemistry-derived cannabinoids as the first new category in 70 years with the transformative potential to reshape global health and wellness.
2019 + 2020 Milestones
After the 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp from the list of controlled substances, opening a federally legal pathway to bring cannabinoids to market, Randall joined forces with co-founders Caitlyn Krebs (CEO) and Phyllis Whiteley, PhD. Recognizing the inherent inconsistency of hemp-based cannabinoids, the trio rallied around a common goal: unlocking the commercial potential of reliably pure cannabinoids. Fueled by their shared vision, they began the initial development of a chemistry platform at R&D scale.