The ABSC Story: Why We Pursued Clinical Testing When Others Didn’t
By the ABSC Organics team | Updated March 2026
There are hundreds of pet CBD brands on the market today. Most of them look similar: they use similar packaging, similar language, and make similar promises. But behind the labels, there are fundamental differences in what companies are willing to invest in — and what they’re willing to risk — to prove their products actually work.
This is the story of why ABSC Organics chose to fund three clinical trials at Colorado State University when virtually every other pet CBD company chose not to. It’s a story about conviction, transparency, and the belief that pet parents deserve more than marketing claims.
Where It Started: A Simple Question
ABSC Organics was founded on a question that seems obvious but is surprisingly uncommon in the pet supplement industry: Does this actually work?
Not “do people believe it works?” Not “do testimonials suggest it works?” But: can we demonstrate, through rigorous controlled scientific study, that this product does what we say it does?
Our founders came from backgrounds where evidence mattered — where claims needed to be supported by data, not just enthusiasm. When they saw the emerging pet CBD market in its early days, they saw two things simultaneously: genuine potential (the endocannabinoid system is real, the biological mechanisms are plausible) and an alarming absence of proof (almost no one was testing their products in controlled clinical settings).
That gap — between potential and proof — became the founding mission of ABSC Organics.
Why Most CBD Companies Skip Clinical Testing
Before you can appreciate why ABSC funded clinical research, it helps to understand why almost no one else does. It’s not always cynicism or negligence. There are real, significant barriers:
The Cost Is Substantial
A single properly designed clinical trial at a major veterinary research university can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Multiply that by three studies, and you’re talking about an investment that would be significant even for a large corporation — let alone a small or mid-sized CBD company operating in a nascent market with uncertain regulatory status.
The Timeline Is Long
Clinical trials don’t happen in weeks. From study design and institutional approval through enrollment, data collection, analysis, and peer review, a single study can take one to three years. For a startup trying to establish market presence, that’s an eternity.
The Results Might Not Help
Here’s the part that makes most companies hesitate: what if the study shows your product doesn’t work? Or what if the results are ambiguous? You’ve spent a fortune and years of time, and now you have data that doesn’t support your marketing. Most companies, if they’re honest about it, would rather not take that risk.
The Regulatory Landscape Is Unclear
CBD for pets exists in a regulatory gray area. The FDA hasn’t approved CBD as an animal drug or supplement. Some companies reason that if there’s no regulatory requirement for clinical data, why invest in generating it?
Testimonials Are Easier
Customer testimonials are free, immediately available, and emotionally compelling. For marketing purposes, a heartfelt story from a pet owner can be more persuasive than a study abstract. Many companies have built successful businesses on testimonials alone.
Why ABSC Chose Differently
Understanding all of those barriers, ABSC Organics still chose to pursue clinical research. Here’s why:
We Believed the Science Would Support Us
We weren’t guessing. Before committing to fund clinical trials, our team had studied the existing preclinical research on cannabidiol extensively. The mechanisms of action — CBD’s interaction with the endocannabinoid system, its anti-inflammatory properties, its effects on neuronal excitability — were well-established in the scientific literature. We weren’t hoping our product worked. We had strong scientific reasons to believe it did. The clinical trials were about proving it.
We Wanted to Set a Standard
The pet CBD market in its early years was chaotic. Products varied wildly in quality. Some contained far less CBD than labeled. Some contained contaminants. Some contained more THC than was safe for animals. We believed that the industry needed companies willing to set a higher standard — not just in product quality, but in evidentiary standards. If we could show that clinical testing was possible and valuable, we hoped it would raise expectations across the industry.
Pet Parents Deserve Real Answers
When a dog owner is researching CBD for their aging Labrador with hip dysplasia, or their epileptic Border Collie, they’re making a decision for a family member who can’t speak for themselves. They deserve better than “it worked for my friend’s dog.” They deserve to know: has this specific product been tested? In what conditions? With what results? By whom?
Funding clinical research was our way of giving pet parents honest answers to those questions.
Partnering with Colorado State University
Choosing the right research partner was critical. We didn’t want a small, unknown lab. We wanted an institution whose name carries weight in the veterinary community — a place where the methodology would be rigorous and the results would be credible.
Colorado State University was the clear choice. Their College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is consistently ranked among the top programs nationally. Their faculty includes leading researchers in neurology, pharmacology, and pain management. And importantly, CSU had already begun investigating cannabinoids in veterinary applications, so they had both the interest and the infrastructure.
The partnership meant submitting our product to independent testing — we didn’t control the study design, the data collection, or the analysis. The researchers operated independently. We funded the work, but the science was theirs. That independence is what makes the results credible.
The Three Studies
Over several years, ABSC funded three distinct clinical trials at CSU:
The Epilepsy Trial
A randomized, placebo-controlled study investigating CBD as an adjunct treatment for canine epilepsy. The result: an 89% reduction in seizure frequency in dogs receiving CBD alongside their existing medications. This was a breakthrough finding — not just for ABSC, but for veterinary medicine.
The Osteoarthritis Trial
A controlled study evaluating CBD’s effects on pain and mobility in dogs with documented osteoarthritis. The result: significant improvements in comfort, mobility, and activity levels, without the gastrointestinal and organ-related side effects associated with long-term NSAID use.
The Long-Term Safety Study
An extended evaluation of daily CBD administration in healthy dogs, monitoring organ function, bloodwork, and overall health over time. The result: CBD was confirmed safe for long-term daily use at recommended doses, with no clinically significant adverse effects.
You can read detailed summaries of all three studies on our clinical research page.
What the Research Cost Us — And What It Gave Us
The financial investment was significant. The time investment was even greater. There were long stretches where we were spending heavily on research while competitors were spending on marketing, growing their customer bases, and establishing brand recognition.
There were moments of doubt. When you’re a small company watching larger, better-funded competitors outpace you in the market while you’re waiting for study results that might take another year, it’s tempting to question your strategy.
But when the results came in — 89% seizure reduction, meaningful arthritis improvements, confirmed long-term safety — every dollar and every month of patience was justified.
What the research gave us was something no marketing budget could buy: credibility. Not the kind of credibility that comes from a nice website or celebrity endorsement. The kind that comes from peer-reviewed data generated at one of the world’s premier veterinary research institutions.
USDA Organic: The Other Commitment
Clinical research was one pillar of our founding mission. The other was product purity.
ABSC Organics is USDA Organic certified — not “made with organic ingredients,” not “organic hemp,” but fully USDA Organic certified from the hemp source through the final product. This certification means:
- No synthetic pesticides at any stage of production
- No synthetic fertilizers
- No GMOs
- Regular third-party audits and inspections
- Complete supply chain transparency
Why does this matter for a CBD product? Because CBD is a concentrated extract. If the hemp plant was grown with pesticides, those chemicals concentrate right along with the cannabinoids. Organic certification ensures that what you’re concentrating is clean.
We also publish third-party lab results — Certificates of Analysis — for every batch. You can verify potency, purity, and the absence of contaminants for the specific bottle you purchased. View them on our Certificate of Analysis page.
Where We Are Now
Today, ABSC Organics stands in a unique position in the pet CBD market. We are, to our knowledge, the only pet CBD company that can claim all of the following:
- Three clinical trials at a top-tier veterinary research university
- USDA Organic certification
- Veterinarian-formulated products
- Published Certificates of Analysis for every batch
We’re not the biggest pet CBD brand. We’re not the cheapest. We chose to invest in science and quality instead of marketing scale, and we believe that choice speaks for itself.
Our product line is intentionally focused: four concentrations of full-spectrum CBD oil, priced to be accessible and available in subscription plans that save 15%. We’d rather do one thing exceptionally well than offer a sprawling product line of untested items.
What This Means for You
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably the kind of pet parent who cares about what you’re giving your dog. You’re not looking for the cheapest option or the flashiest brand. You want to know that a product works, that it’s safe, and that the company behind it is being honest with you.
That’s exactly who we built ABSC Organics for.
When you choose ABSC, you’re choosing a product that has been:
- Tested in three clinical trials at Colorado State University
- Proven to reduce seizures by 89% and improve arthritic mobility
- Confirmed safe for long-term daily use
- Certified USDA Organic
- Verified by independent third-party lab testing
We didn’t take the easy path. We took the right one. And the data proves it.
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