A San Diego company reports reduced animal model pain in a study focused on a proprietary cannabinoid-derivative molecule.
Skye Bioscience, Inc. (SBI) has been developing a synthetic cannabidiol (CBD) derivative called SBI-200 as a glaucoma treatment.
The company says previous SBI-200 preclinical models have shown that it is therapeutically distinct from CBD.
This morning, SBI revealed that they observed significantly reduced pain in relevant animal models by administering SBI-200.
Researchers at the University of Michigan conducted the study for SBI using licensed development and commercialization rights for SBI-200.
SBI CEO Punit Dhillon says early stage research shows that the CBD derivative relieved pain with or without oxycodone.
“While oxycodone is considered the gold standard analgesic, particularly for acute pain,” says Dhillon. “Given its addictive nature and other side effects, a cannabinoid derivative such as SDI-200 may be a potential alternative of complementary pain modifier.”
SBI says that, in contrast to CBD, treating mice with SBI-200 produced significant analgesic effects compared to a saline placebo.
In a hot plate model, SBI says SBI-200 interestingly provided relief like a 3.0 mg/kg analgesic oxycodone dose.
SBI says SBI-200 was less effective than oxycodone in a second model simulating acute visceral pain.
Still, SBI says SBI-200’s effects were additive across sub-analgesic and analgesic oxycodone doses.
According to SBI, the results show that SBI-200 may provide effective pain without an opiate-based pain modifier mechanism.
Dhillon says SBI has significantly grown its research on treating diseases and conditions by engaging cannabinoid receptors.
“This study highlights another therapeutic area that the endocannabinoid system may positively modulate,” says Dhillon. “Beyond systemic pain management, these data are also relevant to ophthamologic pathologies that often require management of both neuropathic and nociceptive-based pain, which aligns with and further supports the advancement of Skye’s R&D pipeline.”
SBI published the study results in a paper, “Differential Effects of Cannabidiol and a Novel Cannabidiol Analog on Oxycodone Place Preference and Analgesia in Mice: an Opioid Abuse Deterrent with Analgesic Properties,” in the Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research scientific journal, Volume 7, Number 6, 2022.