You are here
An Opioid/Cannabinoid Analgesic that Boosts Pain Relief and Blocks Opiate Reward
Phone: (662) 234-4382
Email: elsohly@elsohly.com
Phone: (662) 236-2609
Email: elsohly@elsohly.com
Address:
Type: Nonprofit College or University
Project Summary
Abuse of prescription opioids and fatalities related to their misuse have increased sharply in recent
yearsmaking the development of pain medications with reduced abuse potential a major public
health priorityWhen combinedopioids and cannabinoidCBreceptor agonists show analgesic
effects appear to be at least additive in a number of pain modelsCannabidiolCBDalthough
much less psychoactive thantetrahydrocannabinolTHCthe primary active principle in
Cannabisstill retains analgesic effectsEfforts to develop analogs of CBD with improved solubility
and bioavailability resulted in discovery of CBD valinate hemisuccinateCBD VHSwhich gives
excellent performance in its own right in pain modelsbut also reduces the rewarding effects of
morphine in a conditioned place preference testThe next stepsaddressed in this projectare to
carefully delineate the effects of CBD VHS in combination with the commonly used opioid
therapeutic oxycodonein order to understand their analgesic interactions and the abuse liability of
the combinationsThis will be done by using drug self administration tests and analgesia models
to find out whether mixture ratios that are less reinforcing still produce good pain reliefThese goals will be achieved by first giving oxycodoneOXYby the intravenous routeestablishing dose responses to OXY alonethen giving CBD VHS in various doses and see how
this affects responses to OXYOnce appropriate dose ratios are selectedthen the combination
will be evaluated for its ability to relieve painValidated isobolographic and dose addition
analyses will be used to determine if the combinations are additive or interactivei esupraor
infra additivein analgesic effectThe outcome of this Phase I effort will be the selection of the most promising fixed ratio of
oxycodone and CBD VHS formulation for further preclinical development in the phase II STTRas
a pain management therapeutic with minimized abuse liabilityThe Phase II development
program will include characterization of the interaction in nonhuman primatespharmacokinetic
and pharmacological assessments from oral formulationsand safety evaluations Project Narrative
The relevance of this project to public health is especially pointed because of the current
opioid addiction crisisThis proposal will advance a new cannabinoid based analgesic
therapy which can allow opioid dose reduction and simultaneously reduce the reinforcing
effects of oxycodoneIf successfulthis will expand the options for patients requiring
chronic therapy with potent analgesicsand reduce risk of abuse overdose
* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *