CannBioReX Launches as Medical Cannabis Biopharmaceutical Company

PRESS RELEASE

Pharma Groundbreakers Professor Raphael Mechoulam and Professor Sir Marc Feldmann to Develop Innovative Synthetic Cannabinoid Therapies to Treat High Unmet Medical Needs Like Chronic and Acute Pain, Inflammatory Arthritis and Osteoarthritis, Diabetes and More

TORONTO (TBA 2018)– The promise of medical cannabis has, to date, been based on anecdote, not medical research. CannBioRex Pharmaceuticals has been formed to bring true science to the use of cannabinoids to treat a plethora of diseases with major unmet needs. The new company, led by legendary pharmaceutical pioneers Professor Sir Marc Feldmann and Professor Raphael Mechoulam, today announced its formal launch.

The company’s focus is the development of and commercialization of synthetic pharma-grade cannabinoids for treatment of arthritis, pain, diabetes and obesity.

As more companies tap into the potential of medical cannabis to treat patients with high unmet medical needs, the basic thesis of CannBioRex is to bring clinical trials and the same type of scientific rigor to medical cannabis as the drugs that CannBioRex founders have developed and brought to market with great success.

To date, the medical cannabis industry has focused on using the plant and its partially purified underlying compounds to treat pain and inflammatory diseases. CannBioRex is doing something very different, by focusing on the development of a synthetic cannabinoid through clinical trials that would be submitted to the regulatory agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration for approval as a pharmaceutical drug.

The pharmaceutical industry would be hard-pressed to find anyone as well-suited to the task of finding new blockbuster treatments as the founders of CannBioRex. Prof. Sir Feldmann is credited with discovering, developing and commercializing the world’s largest-selling drug class, anti-TNF, which generates more than $36B in annual sales (2016). Anti-TNF treats rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis and many other diseases and various types are as Humira. Enbrel or Remicade.

“Miraculous properties have been ascribed to cannabis and it’s tempting for non-scientists to believe that you can serve medical needs through legislation.   But it is a dangerous road to go down without proper clinical trials,” said Prof. Sir Feldmann. “CannBioRex will be undertaking the same type of clinical research on cannabinoids as was done on anti-TNFs and other successful medications. CannBioRex is designing and developing pharmaceuticals that board-certified doctors will feel comfortable prescribing to their patients for a variety of common problems, potentially generating billions of dollars in sales.”

Prof. Mechoulam, also known as the Godfather of the Medical Marijuana Industry, discovered Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) the ingredient which gives the “high” with two colleagues, and has defined various other chemical compounds, or “cannabinoids” (a term coined by Prof. Mechoulam) occurring in the cannabis plant, and subsequently discovered the endogenous cannabinoids acting in the human body.

“Medical cannabis has the opportunity to treat many diseases but to date there has been little scientific clinical study undertaken to determine what actually works and what doesn’t, what doses are correct and what are either too much or too little,” said Prof. Raphael Mechoulam. “Nearly all cannabis ‘medicine’ is based on anecdote, and to address this CannBioRex is bringing the same scientific and clinical rigor to medical cannabis as this leadership team has brought to other pharmaceuticals.”

CannBioRex aims to identify several cannabinoid-based compounds suitable for commercial development over the next 24 months. These will then be subjected to safety testing (toxicology) by standard approaches, prior to clinical trials.

About CannBioRex:

CannBioRex Pharmaceuticals Corp. is a preclinical medical cannabis pharma company based in Toronto, Canada, with its Research and Development conducted in Oxford, UK, and Jerusalem, Israel. CannBioRex is focused on the development and commercialization of synthetic pharmaceutical grade cannabinoids for the treatment of Arthritis, Pain (Acute and Chronic,) Diabetes and Obesity. CannBioRex holds an exclusive worldwide license to three patents developed by Prof Raphael Mechoulam at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. These compounds are currently being developed alongside other Intellectual Property being developed by CannBioRex at the Kennedy Institute at The University of Oxford (Prof Sir Marc Feldmann and Prof Richard Williams) and The Hebrew University Jerusalem (Prof Raphael Mechoulam and Professor Ruth Gallily).

About Prof. Sir Marc Feldmann:

Prof. Sir Marc Feldmann is a medically trained immunologist who has unraveled important mechanisms of disease, which led to the discovery and subsequent commercialization of the world’s largest selling drug class, anti-TNF, which generates over $36B USD in annual sales (2016). He is a preeminent immunologist and a professor at the University of Oxford. Prof. Sir Feldmann’s research has led to his recognition as a pioneer in immunology, receiving multiple awards and honors, including the Albert Lasker clinical research award and the Canada Gairdner award, which he shared with his clinical partner, Sir Ravinder Maini, and the European inventor of the year, Lifetime Achievement category in 2007. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2010 for his outstanding services to medicine, and also received the Australian equivalent AC, Companion of Order of Australia.

About Prof. Raphael Mechoulam:

Prof Raphael Mechoulam, also known as the Godfather of the Medical Marijuana Industry, discovered THC along with two colleagues and he has elucidated various other chemical compounds, or “cannabinoids” (Prof. Mechoulam coined the term), occurring in both the cannabis plant and the human body. He has been isolating and synthesizing these compounds for more than 50 years and has received honorary degrees and multiple lifetime achievement awards. He received the Rothschild Prize in 2012 for his discoveries on the influences of natural chemical substances on human behavior, and is the only scientist to have received the Israel prize twice. The Prime Minister of Israel awarded him the EMET prize in 2012 for his contribution to science.

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