Dr. Raphael Mechoulam’s research projects address the chemistry of endogenous cannabinoids and synthesis of novel compounds to be tested as drugs against pain, inflammation, high blood pressure and cancer, with a grant from the US National Institutes of Health. He received NIH funding from 1964 until 2010, when he stopped applying for the typically three-year grants.

Mechoulam, now 86 and still active, is widely recognized as the grandfather of modern cannabis research. In the early 1960s, his team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem became the first to isolate, characterize, and synthesize delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), one of the main psychoactive compounds produced by cannabis plants. And is recognized for isolating CBD and researching the Endocannabinoid System. 

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U.S. Patent No. 6,630,507 was granted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2003.

U.S. Patent No. 6,630,507 covers the potential use of non-psychoactive cannabinoids — chemical compounds found within the plant species cannabis sativa — to protect the brain from damage or degeneration caused by certain diseases, such as cirrhosis.