Oral medicinal cannabis product launched in the US

Drug delivery company LDS Biotech has signed an agreement for its technology to be used as the basis for a medical cannabis product to be marketed in the US.

US distributor Ananda have launched the product and estimate that its annual revenue will exceed $10 million with a percentage given to LDS.

LDS’s technology makes it possible to extract the active ingredient CBD from the cannabis plant to produce a drug that can be taken orally. CBD has no psychoactive effect and can be used in the treatment of pain and inflammation and may prove relevant to treating autism and epilepsy as it can prevent the psychoactive effect of cannabis, according to LDS.

LDS founder and CEO Nissim Garti, Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor of physical and colloid chemistry, said: "Today, marijuana growers are capable of developing strains of the plant that are rich in CBD and contain little THC, which is the narcotic ingredient. When these ingredients are taken orally, however, the digestive system turns the CBD back into THC, resulting in an undesirable effect."

LDS’s system manages to avoid the issue by carrying the wrapped and protected ingredient into the intestine, where it attaches itself to the intestinal walls and decomposes the ingredient into the bloodstream.

LDS have conducted animal trials which confirm the results of the active ingredient’s decomposition. The body’s response time to the ingredient with LDS’s technology is 30 minutes, compared to four hours with other cannabis products.  

Ananda has launched and sold the products in all US states in which marketing medical cannabis is legal.