Nexien collaboration to focus on preclinical cannabinoid studies

DENVER—Nexien BioPharma Inc. announced near the end of November that it was initiating a collaboration with an unnamed Ivy League university medical school to perform preclinical studies using advanced parenteral cannabinoid formulations developed by Nexien, known as NX01R1, NX01R2 and NX01R3. These formulations are designed to target the alleviation of symptoms for the acute treatment and intervention of convulsive disorders and convulsive episodes.

Parenteral administration is a route of administration that includes intramuscular injections of the formulations for optimal dosing and bioavailability. Parenteral administration excludes oral administration of drug formulations.

Nexien will provide the medical school’s neurology lab with specific formulations, in addition to a comprehensive study design developed by the company’s scientific team. This preclinical research will be first performed in rodents, and will initially investigate the maximum tolerable dose, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles of advanced cannabinoid-based parenteral formulations.

In November 2017, Nexien filed a provisional patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) relating to the use of cannabinoids to treat convulsive disorders, specifically epilepsy and refractory epilepsy. Refractory epilepsy is a form of epilepsy in which patients typically do not respond to existing available medications and treatment options.

“A growing body of existing research performed on specific cannabinoids has shown impressive efficacy for treating targeted convulsive disorders, particularly those in which patients do not respond to currently available medications,” said Alex Wasyl, CEO of Nexien. “Nexien’s formulations address an intrinsic problem encountered when using cannabinoids to treat these indications. Cannabinoids intrinsically have very low oral bioavailability, and thus have significantly slower absorption into plasma and target tissues. By using our specific parenteral delivery system and advanced formulations, we hope to shorten the timeline for clinically significant treatment efficacy and symptom reduction compared with currently available cannabinoid-based medication for similar indications.”