Could DehydraTECH CBD be Worth $3 Billion a Year to Lexaria?
March 09 2021 - 10:03AM
InvestorsHub NewsWire
New
York, NY - March 09, 2021 -- InvestorsHub NewsWire --
via NewMediaWire -- Hypertension, or high
blood pressure as it’s commonly known, affects over three million
Americans every year and is a primary or contributing cause of
death for 25% of them. On a global scale, hypertension kills
roughly 7.6 million people per
year.
Lexaria Bioscience, a Canadian
biotech firm specializing in cannabinoid research, is hoping to
change those numbers. DehydraTECH CBD, the company’s revolutionary
oral deliverable for hypertension sufferers, is in human clinical
trials right now and results are
promising.
“Our
2018 human clinical trial showed that DehydraTECH CBD lowers blood
pressure by about 5% after just a single 90 milligram dose,” said
Lexaria CEO Chris Bunka. “Generic CBD doesn’t do that. Our
objective in our new 2021 clinical studies is to evidence a 10% or
greater drop in blood pressure to be competitive with industry
demands.”
The
2018 European study also showed evidence of DehydraTECH CBD
facilitating higher volumes of blood flow to the brain and faster
delivery of CBD into the bloodstream. Ensuing studies will
determine what that means for hypertension
sufferers.
New Human Clinical Studies
are Underway in 2021
Lexaria currently has three human
clinical studies about to commence, using 300 to 450 milligram
doses. In comparison, GW Pharmaceuticals is administering up to
1200 milligrams of Epidiolex, an FDA-approved CBD-based
anti-seizure medicine for children, and even at those higher doses
side effects have been minimal.
“In
the hypertension industry, drugs that provide a 10 to 20 percent
reduction in blood pressure are generally successful,” Bunka adds.
“We are confident we can get to that level and expect our studies
to provide evidence supporting that over the next six to nine
months.”
DehydraTECH CBD utilizes a
patented dehydration process that changes how the body senses and
absorbs drugs orally. In earlier clinical trials, DehydraTECH CBD
has been proven to deliver over 300% more CBD than generic CBD in
less than 30 minutes.
Positive results in the human
clinical studies would provide more evidence for consideration of
DehydraTECH CBD as a regulated form of CBD, a status in the
cannabinoid sector that only Epidiolex has earned to date. Bunka
and his team are confident they will get
there.
Hypertension Relief is a
$30 Billion Market
There
are obvious health care benefits to developing an effective
cannabis-based hypertension treatment. Financially, a success in
this area would be huge for Lexaria. In 2019, the market for
antihypertensive drugs was worth $26.1 billion.
By
comparison, the pediatric anti-seizure market that Epidiolex serves
is worth ~$1 billion per year. GW
Pharmaceuticals was just purchased for $7.2 billion by Jazz
Pharmaceuticals, a major Big Pharma player. In the United States
alone, there are three antihypertension drugs that have recorded
between $1 and $3 billion in annual sales:
• Diovan,
manufactured by Novartis, had $60.8 billion in lifetime sales between
1997 and 2012. It has since been replaced by a generic version
called Valsartan.
• Amlodipine,
a calcium channel blocker known more commonly as Norvasc, has been
on the market since 2005. By September 2019, it had
been prescribed 75,201,622
times.
• Lisinopril,
a medicine used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure, was
prescribed over 89 million times within one year of its
introduction in July 2011.
None
of these drugs are cannabis-based and each has unwanted side
effects. Assuming Lexaria reaches that level, the company could be
looking at a drug with over $1 billion in annual revenue after FDA
approval. What might Lexaria be worth at that
point?
With
existing patents granted in the EU and Australia already secured
for the treatment of heart disease using cannabinoids, Lexaria is
confident it will receive regulator approvals in multiple
geographic markets in due time. Investors seem to agree. As of this
morning, Lexaria (LEXX) was up over 25% since first listing on
Nasdaq in January.
Lexaria is Open to
Partnership Opportunities
CEO
Bunka sees the opportunity and is open to partnering with a larger
company. “Lexaria would be open to partner with Big Pharma to
deliver this potentially life-saving treatment,” he said. “Our
business model includes out-licensing our technology for
appropriate royalty streams.”
Companies with a royalty revenue
stream have been known to earn a valuation of up to 30 times annual
revenue. If you do the math on the partnership possibilities,
Lexaria could be looking at valuations as high as GW
Pharmaceuticals recently reached. That’s not unrealistic in this
sector.
With
Lexaria, it’s possible to happen soon as they are not reliant on
government funding to conduct clinical studies: All existing trials
are 100% funded from internal company resources. Therefore, the
ramp-up to commercialization can be faster, and these potential
revenues, can have a significant impact on its current market cap
of only $35
million.
“The
Jazz acquisition of GW shows that Big Pharma is finally taking
cannabinoid research and CBD-based medical treatments seriously,”
Chris Bunka said. “One of the big benefits of CBD is its modest
side effect profile – pharma simply HAS to research this thoroughly
in the interests of public health.”
This
story will be worth keeping an eye on as it unfolds. Results from
Q1 studies of DehydraTECH CBD will be made available starting
around May, with human clinical study results to follow soon
thereafter. If all goes well, the path to FDA approval could become
clearer. Relief for hypertension sufferers can’t come soon
enough.
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Source: https://www.newmediawire.com/news/could-dehydratech-cbd-be-worth-3-billion-a-year-to-lexaria-5214111
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