Synthetic Cannabinoid Analogs (SCAs)

Led by Prof. Sir Marc Feldmann and Prof. Avi Domb.

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Arthritis, Pain and Inflammation

180 Life Sciences aims to develop synthetic cannabinoid analogs that are safe, non-psychoactive and formulated to improve efficacy and bioavailability – a real alternative to unregulated cannabidiol (CBD).

What Are SCAs?

Synthetic CBD analogs (SCAs) are man-made derivatives of cannabidiol (CBD). 180 Life Sciences aims to develop SCAs that are safe, non-psychoactive and formulated to improve efficacy and bioavailability – a real alternative to unregulated CBD.

Why Develop SCAs?

Because medical cannabis is a complex mixture of compounds from plants, providing a consistent level of the active compound of interest or controlling the level of the other natural compounds is difficult. Typical botanical derived CBD contains impurities such as THC (the psychoactive compound within cannabis) and other minor cannabinoids. Accordingly, we are working on orally available SCAs, not derived from plants, to address the deleterious issues of medical cannabis. This is a real alternative to unregulated consumption of medical cannabis or OTC CBD (no clinical evidence, not FDA approved, unreliable composition, unpredictable dosing and safety). If successful, these SCAs could become approved drug products that offer a robustly consistent and safe dosage that allows patient intake to be carefully controlled.

We believe that there are unmet needs for orally available, relatively safe anti-inflammatory drugs, especially those with analgesic properties. Synthetic cannabinoid analogs have the potential to fulfill these needs and we have started to develop novel, orally available and patentable drug candidates to treat certain diseases or conditions. Our synthetic cannabinoid program focuses on the development of synthetic pharmaceutical grade molecules close or distant analogs of non-psychoactive cannabinoids such as CBD for the treatment of inflammatory diseases and pain. Our primary synthetic cannabinoid program targets are arthritis and chronic and recurrent pain, while our secondary program targets are diabetes/diabetic neuropathy, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, obesity and fatty liver disease. Our work on synthetic cannabinoid analogs is currently in the preclinical development stage.

Competitive Advantages