The Kings of CBD Are Now Cooking Up Plans to Make Billion-Dollar Meds from Cannabis and Mushrooms

From Charlotte’s Web to Ajna BioSciences: The Stanley Brothers Take Aim at FDA-Approved Botanical Medicine

More than a decade ago, the Stanley brothers changed the face of cannabis with Charlotte’s Web, a CBD-rich extract that reduced seizures in children, sparked international media attention, and helped fuel the legalization movement. Today, they’re pushing even deeper into the world of plant-based medicine—with a pharmaceutical mission powered by cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms.

Inside a 13,500-square-foot warehouse in Littleton, Colorado, Joel Stanley—one of the seven brothers behind Charlotte’s Web—leads the next evolution in botanical therapeutics through his newest venture: Ajna BioSciences. The company is on a bold mission to bring FDA-approved drugs derived from cannabis and psilocybin mushrooms to the global pharmaceutical market.

Behind the Doors of Ajna: Developing Organic Drugs from Cannabis and Psychedelics

Ajna’s warehouse doesn’t look like a pharmaceutical lab from the outside. But inside, it’s a meticulously organized facility housing thousands of psychedelic mushrooms and cutting-edge cannabis formulations. In one room, giant fruiting bodies of psilocybin mushrooms grow in sterile conditions. Down the hall, a chemist carefully turns mushroom extracts into a fine, tryptamine-rich powder.

“We’re taking a pharmaceutical approach to nature,” says Joel Stanley, now 45 and CEO of Ajna. “Our entire process is totally organic, which means we could produce the first USDA-certified organic pharmaceutical.”

Ajna’s first major drug candidate, AJA001, is a botanical tincture derived from the same patented strain used in Charlotte’s Web. It contains both CBD and THC—a full-spectrum formulation aiming to treat autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which now affects over 4 million Americans.

How Ajna and DeFloria Aim to Bring a Botanical Autism Drug to Market

Ajna has already raised $11 million to fund early development, with $4.5 million from the Stanley family and additional funding from early Charlotte’s Web investors. But the path to FDA approval is expensive. To help move AJA001 through clinical trials, Joel’s brother Jared Stanley co-founded DeFloria, a joint venture between Ajna, Charlotte’s Web, and British American Tobacco (BAT), which contributed $15 million in funding.

AJA001 is progressing through the FDA’s botanical drug pathway, a rigorous process that allows full-plant medicines to be approved rather than synthetic compounds. The challenge? A single botanical formula like AJA001 may contain thousands of compounds—over 6,000, in this case—making consistency, efficacy, and safety testing more complex than with single-molecule drugs.

Still, Phase I trials have been completed successfully, showing the drug is safe. Now, the team is preparing for Phase II, which will test its ability to reduce irritability in people with autism.

The Stakes: A Costly and Unforgiving Road to FDA Approval

The potential reward is massive, but so is the risk. AJA001 faces a long and costly road—an average of $880 million to $1 billion is needed to bring a new drug to market. The failure rate for drugs in FDA trials is a staggering 91%, and even botanical drugs face massive hurdles.

Joel Stanley remains optimistic: “We raised $28 million during one of the worst times to raise money in recent history. That shows this project is worth it. What gives me heartburn is the time it takes.”

An Ambitious Target: Surpassing Epidiolex in the Autism Treatment Market

AJA001 aims to treat autism-related irritability, a condition currently addressed by Abilify and Risperdal, both powerful antipsychotics with major side effects. The Stanley brothers believe their plant-based alternative could be safer and more effective.

They also believe it could be more profitable. With a target patient population in the millions, Joel estimates that AJA001 could reach $2.4 billion in annual sales within five years—more than double the success of Epidiolex, the first FDA-approved CBD-based drug, which generated $972 million last year.

Botanical Drug Innovation: Intellectual Property and Competitive Barriers

One of the Stanley brothers’ key strategies is focusing on botanical patent protections. While not as straightforward as synthetic drugs, botanical formulas are harder to replicate due to the sheer number of active compounds.

“It’s virtually impossible to genericize a full-spectrum multi-compound drug,” says Joel. Jared adds, “There’s a natural moat against generics.”

Ajna and DeFloria have filed patents on AJA001, while Charlotte’s Web holds the genetic IP for the hemp strain behind the formulation.

Overcoming Obstacles: Cannabis, Psychedelics, and the FDA’s Reluctance

The Stanleys’ ambitious project doesn’t come without precedent—or pitfalls. Despite widespread state legalization, federal law still classifies THC and psilocybin as Schedule I substances, complicating clinical trials and regulatory approval.

Even major players have stumbled. Sativex, a THC-CBD mouth spray developed by GW Pharma, failed to get FDA approval despite success overseas. Psychedelic medicine company Lykos spent over $100 million developing an MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, only to fail its Phase III trial in 2024.

Still, the Stanley brothers remain confident—especially with Dr. Orrin Devinsky, the lead investigator on Epidiolex, as their chief medical advisor.

“He is the only person to have a cannabis drug FDA approved,” Jared notes. “And now he’s leading this project.”

A Family Legacy: From a Basement Grow to a Global Pharmaceutical Mission

The Stanley brothers’ journey began humbly—working odd jobs in Oklahoma and Colorado before launching a marijuana cultivation business in the early days of medical legalization. In 2011, they shifted focus from high-THC to high-CBD strains, breeding a new plant they called Signa, later renamed Charlotte’s Web after a young girl with epilepsy, Charlotte Figi.

Charlotte’s seizures dropped from 50 a day to just one a month after using the CBD oil. CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta featured her story in the groundbreaking documentary Weed, propelling Charlotte’s Web to national fame.

By 2018, the company had raised $150 million, went public in Canada, and hit a $1 billion valuation. But with fierce competition in the CBD supplement market, revenues have since dropped to $50 million, and the company’s market cap has fallen below $15 million.

That decline sparked a shift—Joel launched Ajna in 2021, and Jared founded DeFloria two years later, both aiming to bring botanical cannabis medicine into the FDA’s regulated space.

Psychedelics, 5-MeO-DMT, and the Future of Ajna BioSciences

Back at Ajna, a 15-foot concrete safe stores the company’s psilocybin and THC products. During downtime, the team even synthesized 5-MeO-DMT, a powerful psychedelic derived from the Sonoran Desert toad. The compound, nicknamed the “God Molecule,” could one day become another pharmaceutical candidate.

Ajna has DEA approval to manufacture and study banned substances for research, giving it a rare edge in the psychedelic biotech space.

Betting on a Botanical Future

Despite the staggering odds, the Stanley brothers are confident in their second act—transforming from CBD pioneers to botanical drug developers. Their goal isn’t to relive past success, but to pioneer a new class of natural pharmaceuticals capable of treating some of the most pressing mental health and neurological conditions of our time.