National Costume: Analytical Testing – Changes and Challenges

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Analytical Testing – Changes and Challenges

Analytical Testing

Changes and Challenges

Cannabis testing is an integral part of meeting the regulatory compliance requirements from Health Canada. Analytical testing is vital in determining the product's potency and presence of contaminants like pesticides and heavy metals.

Although cannabis has now been legalized for almost 3 years, industry standards are still being established and we continue to hear about issues around “lab shopping” and other major challenges. In this panel, we hear from Ashton Abrahams, an esteemed expert in the cannabis testing space, and his perspectives on how labs can address these challenges and how to ensure better testing practices.

Ashton A. Abrahams

Sigma Analytical Services

Co-Founder and President

Sigma Analytical Services

Ashton A. Abrahams is a serial entrepreneur who has started and/or grown several successful ventures across a variety of industries. With a master’s degree and an MBA, and more than seven years of experience as a management consultant, he brings a wealth of knowledge and extensive skills in managing the challenges of growing businesses.

Ashton’s twenty years of experience in strategy development and implementation, business development, and business operations management, alongside his entrepreneurial background, and C-suite level and cross-border experience have led to co-founding Sigma Analytical Services, t he first cannabis-focused GMP-certified analytical and microbiological testing laboratory in Canada. He has spent the past 4 years focusing on quality control and testing cannabis and derived products in Canada, Colombia, and the US.

Jason Chu

Manager, Operations

AAPS

Jason Chu is an experienced laboratory instructor at AAPS focusing on quality control and research and development functions in the pharmaceutical industry.

Prior to joining AAPS, he was an Analytical Research and Development Chemist at Apotex Inc. – task with laboratory investigations, method validation, API screening and process validation support. During his time in R&D, he was appointed as a Designated Compliance Coordinator (DCC) to conduct regularly scheduled self-audits for continuous compliance improvement. At Apotex, he also held position as a Quality Control Chemist – testing raw materials, in-process products, finished products using a variety of laboratory techniques and instruments. In that role, he was also designated as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) task with responding to audit requests conducted by Health Canada and FDA.