The Perfect Prescription for a Family Business

By Dianne Armitage

A passion for healthy options led sisters Shannon Ashamalla and Stephanie Sullivan, to join forces with their dad, Paul Sullivan, to formulate Theracream® a line of CBD products designed to provide topical relief for everything from headaches and sports injuries to arthritis, sciatica, and psoriasis.

Many things make this family team and its products unique, which translates to topical creams meeting not only the highest quality standards but helps to ensure they produce the relief the consumer is seeking.

Paul’s training as a compound pharmacist goes well beyond that of a community or hospital pharmacist since it includes specialization in the actual formulation and compounding or production of pharmaceuticals.

Compounded prescriptions are often preferred when a onesize-fits-all is not delivering the maximum successful patient response. Paul is skilled at choosing or developing specific dosage formulas that are most effective for the patient. In addition to capsules or creams and lotions, he is well versed in creating tablets, oral thin film strips, suppositories, aerosols, tinctures, oils, patches, powders, liquids, or sprays.

Added to this is his training in veterinary pharmacology, hospital pharmacy, dental products, sports nutrition, cannabis and hemp extract therapy, as well as homeopathy. But it doesn’t end there. His experience in skincare (he was Vice

President of Product Development for Murad Skin Research) adds yet another layer to the efficacy of TheraCream products, as well as scientific and medical sophistication.

The trio’s commitment to quality control from seed to final product is just one more part of their “magic” potion. “Quality control is critical in any business, and being able to have control and details about the chain-of-custody of any raw material from the field (seed) to the production (final packaging) can increase your chances of maximizing the quality of the final product,” Shannon explains. “This includes knowing the seed quality and purity, where they are grown, what is used in the way of fertilizers and pesticides, how it is harvested, where it is extracted, and by what means. It also involves knowing what solvents are used (if any) in the extraction and their safety profile. It’s also important to know what the active ingredient level is of the final product, and IF there are any solvent residues (this is determined by a thirdparty analysis) in the raw material.”

“Another part of the equation is where it is to be manufactured and what controls are in place in that facility, as well as what packaging is selected for protection from light, humidity, temperature, etc. This information is all part of our process.”

All small businesses face challenges, and this is particularly true when it comes to the cannabis/marijuana industry. Shannon points out that credit card processors will frequently not take online CBD businesses without adding costly “high risk” rates, so finding a reliable credit card processor has been one of their biggest challenges.

She also mentions that some people are concerned about cannabis and THC showing up in a blood test (required by some employers) when their intent is to use pure CBD for pain or the many other known benefits. This is why Theracream® uses only CBD and CBG Isolates so they can assure clients there is zero THC in all of their products.

And the competition has become what she refers to as fierce. “Hemp has very much become a trend in the past few years, and although we are grateful for that, trends come with many companies hastily putting together cheap, poorquality products that often have celebrity endorsements attached. In addition to being THC free, we continue to take pride in offering a superiorproduct that has third parties test for quality control. We do our best to ensure the hemp our CBD is produced from is grown in soil free from pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, and any toxic chemicals.”

As is true of most small businesses, everyone involved wears many hats. At the moment, Shannon handles the website, customer service, sales, and marketing. Alongside Shannon, Stephanie is responsible for production, manufacturing, and research, as well as coformulating along with their father. Another family member, sister Suzanne Hughes lends a hand by helping with the company’s newsletters and Instagram posts. Other family members have stepped in to help with IT and tradeshow events when needed.

When asked whether there will be additional products in the future besides the original Theracream® and Theracream Extreme®, Shannon shares that they are working on a few new products, both topical and internal, but wants to surprise and delight people when they are ready to be released. Find more information at theracream.com. C S

Dianne Armitage (WriteOn!) is a Carpinteria-based writer. writealterego@yahoo.com.

l-r: Stephanie Sullivan, Paul Sullivan and Shannon Ashamalla.