Veritas reaches important scientific milestone

Animal studies fully underway to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of cannabis strains.

Veritas Pharma, working with Cannevert Therapeutics, the company’s exclusive partner and high-level R&D arm, has begun animal testing targeting pain and nausea related to cancer and chemotherapy, respectively. The process is an important stage in evaluating safety and effectiveness compared to standard therapies before human trials. Veritas believes the company’s ‘whole plant’ approach and methodology, versus research at the molecular level, will provide greater speed-to-market, estimated to be one-tenth the time of traditional pharma.

Veritas’ CEO, Dr Lui Franciosi stated: "With the core animal models in place, we are screening as many cannabis strains as possible over the next couple of months. We are fortunate to be in Canada with sensible federal regulators as well as legal access to cannabis strains that can be ordered and transported across provincial borders.”

This all important and highly controlled research follows recognized guidelines and protocols, with submissions made to an animal care committee to safeguard the use of animals and to evaluate the ethical and scientific value of the proposed research. Skill availability is scarce, as talented pharmacologists are in high demand and in limited supply. Veritas believes it has assembled a group of pharmacologists with a successful track record of designing and implementing animal experiments that have produced new medicines.

“This team of specialists brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from past drug discovery programs to this evolving research area. They have now established and implemented animal experiments that can functionally mimic what happens in patients with pain and nausea, and they can infer whether a cannabis strain is any good compared to standard drugs that are normally used to treat these conditions in the clinic,” said Dr Franciosi. Once the team finds a lead cannabis strain, Veritas intends to immediately submit a patent application demonstrating the strain’s novelty and utility as well as publish and promote its scientific and clinical merit. A confirmatory clinical trial will eventually be implemented to provide further supporting evidence of the strain’s clinical utility.

At this time, Cannevert has sufficient personnel and funding to carry out the animal research that is required. Cannevert intends to apply to match its current research funds through available industry-academic grants. The results of these grant applications are expected to be announced within the Q3 and Q4 2016.