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Water and oil mix could pave new way for CBD and drug delivery

A process created by a team from Aston University for MaxBio+ to solubilise fats in water could pave a new way in both CBD and drug delivery.

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Key highlights:

Water and oil don’t mix, right? It’s one of the first lessons you learn in science classes at school. 

A new technique, developed by a team of UK researchers from Aston University for Max Bio+, means the current relationship between oil and water will have to be rethought.

The Max Bio+ technology enables oil to be dissolved in water. It doesn’t just mix the two together, it makes oil soluble in water, which could be a gamechanger for the medical industry.

Max Bio+ was founded by Professor Shah, professor consultant ophthalmologist, Professor Aston University, and philanthropist Sean Ngu.

The team started by looking at eye drops as there was evidence that the anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anaesthetic and analgesic properties of cannabidiol (known as CBD) could help patients with dry eyes. The question was how to get the CBD delivered to the eye when dropping oil in the eye clearly wasn’t a good option.

It was while creating the eye drops that the team discovered a way of creating a soluble CBD product by making the oil completely soluble in water. Perfect for eye drops – and a wide range of other applications. 

For now, the team is focusing mainly on working with CBD oil, but the technique works just as well with any oil-based product, opening the door for a range of new products in the future. For example, the team is also looking at the delivery of insulin for diabetics.

Laboratory testing has indicated that Max Bio+’s technique makes CBD much easier for the body to absorb. When taken via the mouth, it gives up to six times greater absorption of the same amount of CBD into the body. 

Max Bio+’s resulting CBD liquid is 25,000 times more soluble than standard CBD. It also enables the team to make a concentration of CBD at 20mg/ml. This is considerably higher, as much as 6,000 times higher than most CBD products available on the UK drinks market at the moment.

The research has primarily been performed within the Aston University Pharmacy Department in Birmingham, UK. Thus, it has been tested to UK pharmaceutical levels, which is higher than required for CBD products.

Max Bio+ uses its (patent pending) technique to create a clear, tasteless, odourless product manufactured without alcohol, surfactants or heat. This clear CBD liquid can then form the basis for a variety of products in drug delivery.

The liquid can also be freeze-dried to create a powder making transport easier and further opening up the range of potential applications.

“This breakthrough in mixing oil and water is a genuine gamechanger. Just imagine how it can change the health industry by allowing the oral delivery of many drugs that currently have to be injected. Insulin a prime example. This could spell the end of painful injections for thousands of diabetics. Then there are the eye drops and myriad ways to add CBD to food and beverages without compromising on taste,” said Professor Shah. 

Currently, Professor Shah and his team are working specifically on the CBD eye drops and ways that insulin could be delivered under the tongue to potentially help diabetics.

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