Validación de un método de cuantificación de metabolitos de Cannabis sp. mediante HPLC-DAD-FL

Background. The bill with file No. 21,388 "Law on cannabis for medicinal and therapeutic use
and hemp for food and industrial use" will allow "the access and use of cannabis and its
derivatives exclusively for medicinal and therapeutic use, in order to guarantee the fundamental
right to health of the entire Costa Rican population", as well as "the promotion of productive
chains that primarily benefit the small agricultural producers”. In addition, this project declares of
public interest "the research carried out by Caja Costarricence de Seguro Social and public
universities to develop new medicines, products and therapeutic treatments that allow the benefits
of cannabis to be exploited" (Art. 23). This law pretends to allow the cultivation, production,
industrialization, and marketing of hemp or non-psychoactive cannabis; however, all activities with
psychoactive cannabis, including those for scientific research or university teaching purposes, will
require authorization, control, surveillance, supervision and inspection by the Ministry of Health
(MINSA), the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) and the Costa Rican Institute on Drugs.
MINSA will establish the permitted CBD and THC ranges in medicines and other value-added
products for medical or therapeutic use, and technical studies will be required to verify these
ranges. In addition, the origin of the raw material must be certified and traced throughout the
entire production chain. Problem. To the best of our knowledge, even though CBD products are
already commercialized in Costa Rica, there are no laboratory tests validated under international
standards in public laboratories in Costa Rica, to determine the profile of cannabidiols (CBD) and
tetrahydrocannabinols (THC) in commercial products. The availability of these tests will be
necessary for future research activities and for small producers, so that they can validate
compliance with the ranges of CBD and THC allowed by MINSA. Methods. Since 2021, the
Biotechnology Research Center (CIB) of the School of Biology at TEC has an HPLC-DAD-FL
chromatography equipment, with which the method of analysis of said compounds will be
established and validated through the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research of the US Food
and Drug Administration guidelines (FDA). In addition, an exploratory analysis of commercial
products already available on the market will be carried out, in order to confirm compliance with
the permitted ranges. Expected results. The main result of the project will be the availability of a
diagnostic test for cannabinoids in products to be marketed in Costa Rica, or for scientific

Validar un método de cuantificación de metabolitos de Cannabis sp.
mediante HPLC-DAD-FL en concordancia con los requisitos del proyecto de ley para el uso
medicinal, alimentario e industrial del cáñamo y el cannabis en Costa Rica

Escuela de Biología: Biotecnología Médica, Biotecnología Vegetal.
Escuela de Agronomía (San Carlos): Sistemas de producción alternativos sostenibles.
Escuela de Administración de Empresas: Entorno y gestión de negocio