Bod Australia
Bod has filed an international patent application with the Australian patent office for a novel delivery device to combat the skin’s ageing process.
The transdermal delivery device, made up of a novel family of proteins, has been developed in collaboration with University of Technology Sydney.
Recent testing results showed treatment of human skin cells with the device reduced cell death due to UV light exposure by up to 30% when compared to untreated cells. Tests showed the device also provided protection from harsh oxidants, such as hydrogen peroxide, increasing cell viability by up to 20%.
The patent application covers the device, the processes for preparing it and use across various applications. Bod retains full ownership and rights to the intellectual property and invention including the patent application and is actively exploring licensing opportunities.
CEO Jo Patterson said: “Lodging a submission with the Australian Patent Office for this unique formulation highlights the company’s ongoing commitment to R&D and product commercialisation. The transdermal device is the result of extensive work undertaken with UTS and has very exciting potential in the major skin care and cosmetic markets.
“Work undertaken to date has now demonstrated that using the protein formulation on human skin cells can significantly protect against harsh skin oxidant and UV light exposure, making it applicable across a number of lucrative verticals.
“Bod will continue to work on varying combinations of the formulation. This will provide Bod with another innovative product with considerable revenue and commercial potential.”
Incannex Healthcare
Incannex has completed patient dosing in a Phase 1 clinical trial of IHL-675A, its anti-inflammatory drug comprising CBD and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ).
The trial measured the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic profiles of IHL-675A compared to the reference listed drugs, Epidiolex (CBD) and Plaquenil (HCQ).
Three cohorts of 12 participants received either IHL-675A, CBD or HCQ and the clinical assessments were identical across the three arms of the trial.
IHL-675A was well tolerated, with no adverse events of concern reported to date.
Incannex is arranging Phase 2 studies for patients with rheumatoid arthritis and planning Phase 2 studies in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and lung inflammation.
It said the treatment of these three indications has a combined global annual market size exceeding US$125 billion.
The firm is also preparing for a pre-IND meeting with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the development of IHL-675A specifically for the treatment of patients with arthritis.
It intends to open an IND in parallel with the Australian Phase 2 study.
Incannex said an improvement in patient wellbeing achieved by IHL-675A would potentially open a major economic opportunity in the treatment of arthritis.
Managing director Joel Latham added: “Many people throughout the world are using unapproved CBD or cannabinoids for inflammation-based disorders.
“By undertaking pivotal clinical studies over IHL-675A, we intend to disrupt the market for CBD and open our product to the purview of medical professionals who are eminently more comfortable prescribing FDA-approved, pharmaceutical-grade products to their patients.”
Medlab Clinical
Medlab’s Phase 1/Phase 2 clinical trial of its THC/CBD pain relief candidate NanaBis in patients with advanced cancer experiencing uncontrolled pain has been published in the journal PLOS One.
The study, conducted at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital under principal investigator Professor Stephen Clarke, showed NanaBis had a superior pharmacokinetic profile and led to a 40% reduction in pain in patients with bone metastases from breast and prostate cancers.
The pain relief provided by NanaBis was associated with improvements in quality-of-life measures of emotional functioning, dyspnoea, insomnia and appetite. It demonstrated a good safety and tolerability profile in the cancer cohort with no major adverse events.
Rua Bioscience
New Zealand firm Rua Bioscience has received its first order for high-THC flower via German distributor Nimbus Health, describing it as a “significant commercial milestone”.
The flower was developed by Cann Group, Rua’s Australian manufacturing, supply and technical services partner.
Managing director Anna Stove said: “Receiving this order for dried flower from Nimbus signifies just how close we are to cementing export revenues and providing German patients with a sustainable supply of Rua medicines”.
“At its launch, we believe Rua’s flower will be one of the highest THC dried flower medicines on the market, which will give [us] a significant competitive advantage.”
Emyria
Emyria has progressed its preclinical MDMA-inspired drug discovery program via its partnership with the University of Western Australia (UWA) and medicinal chemistry expert Dr Matt Piggott.
Emyria and UWA have been actively growing and screening a unique drug-discovery pipeline of novel MDMA analogues to identify new chemical entities and drug candidates with the potential to address unmet needs in mental health and neurological disorders.
Emyria previously secured exclusive rights to all MDMA-like compounds created under the partnership.
Additional compound synthesis and screening is ongoing and a fourth batch of 14 unique compounds, inspired by previous screening results, was recently prepared and shipped for preliminary screening with pharmaceutical products testing firm Eurofins. This brings the total number of unique compounds in the library to more than 140.
Meanwhile, five high priority compounds have been shipped to the US for evaluation with specialist neuroscience contract research organisation (CRO) PsychoGenics. Additional studies have commenced with an Australian CRO to help determine the metabolic half-life of a priority set of compounds.
