Beleave Inc. (CSE:BE) (OTCQX:BLEVF) is pleased to announce that it will begin a research program with Dr. Michael Rogers to develop and characterize the bioavailability of novel cannabinoid food and drug delivery systems for oral administration using lipid-based nano-systems. Dr. Rogers is an Associate Professor in the Department of Food Sciences at the University of Guelph, and the holder of a Canada Research Chair in Food Nanotechnology.
The goal of the program will be the development of proprietary cannabinoid food and drug delivery systems with optimized bioavailability and shelf-life properties compared to currently available cannabis products. Drug development will be geared towards the current medicinal cannabis market, while food development will be geared towards the upcoming adult recreational market.
“Development of novel cannabis formulations with optimized bioavailability will be a tremendous benefit to the medicinal cannabis market, as well as pre-emptively provide valuable technologies for the upcoming recreational market,” commented Beleave Chief Science Officer, Dr. Roger Ferreira.
Principle Investigator Dr. Rogers will be joined by a research team including Dr. Paul Spagnuolo, Associate Professor in the Department of Food Sciences at the University of Guelph, and Dr. Peter Chen, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo, School of Pharmacy. The work will involve the use of the TIM-1, an in vitrogastrointestinal digestion model which simulates the human stomach, duodenum, jejunum, and ileum in order to study stability and bioavailability events after oral ingestion. This will greatly accelerate the ability to assess the oral bioavailability of novel cannabinoid food and drugs, as well as drastically reducing costs associated with bioavailability studies in humans or animals.
“This unique collaboration brings together scientists from across disciplines to take a bottom-up, fundamental approach to developing novel vehicles for delivery of cannabis products, creating the best possible products for both the medicinal and recreational markets,” states Dr. Rogers.
Assessing for bioavailability can pose serious challenges, as human or animal subjects are required and plasma samples must be drawn. The TIM-1 simulated in vitro gastrointestinal digestion model was developed by TNO in the Netherlands, and is currently being used by only four laboratories in Canada. This advanced dissolution model has high correlation to in vivo testing and has been validated for use in drug delivery (See PubMed).
Novel cannabinoid formulations will be assessed for bioavailability in a quick and cost-effective manner without the need for ethical approval as in when dealing with human or animal test subjects. This will allow rapid assessments of formulations and significantly increase the rate of innovation and discovery into enhancing oral bioavailability of cannabinoids. This research coupling novel cannabis food and drug delivery systems with the TIM-1 will be the first-of-its-kind.
About Beleave
Beleave Inc. is a biotech company and Beleave’s wholly-owned subsidiary Beleave Kannabis Corp. (formerly First Access Medical Inc.) is a licensed producer pursuant to the ACMPR. Beleave’s purpose-built facility is located near Hamilton, Ontario.
In the interest of full disclosure, we call the reader’s attention to the fact that Equities.com, Inc. is compensated by the companies profiled in the Spotlight Companies section. The purpose of these profiles is to provide awareness of these companies to investors in the micro, small-cap and growth equity community and should not in any way be considered as a recommendation to buy, sell or hold these securities. Equities.com is not a registered broker dealer, investment advisor, financial analyst, investment banker or other investment professional. We are a publisher of original and third party news and information. All profiles are based on information that is available to the public. The information contained herein should not be considered to be complete and is not guaranteed by Equities.com to be free from misstatement or errors. The views expressed are our own and not intended to be the basis for any investment decision. Readers are reminded to do their own due diligence when researching any companies mentioned on this website. Always bear in mind that investing in early-stage companies is risky and you are encouraged to only invest an amount that you can afford to lose completely without any change in your lifestyle. Equities has been compensated with cash, common shares and/or warrants for market awareness services provided.
