Our Science
Harnessing the therapeutic power of cannabinoids
We know that people have been self-medicating with cannabis for hundreds of years. Our mission is to replace this anecdotal knowledge with hard clinical evidence that will allow more people, living with debilitating and chronic conditions, access to the therapeutic benefits of cannabinoids.
Science has shown us that a key biological system in the human body, the Endocannabinoid System (ECS), plays an important role in maintaining the balance between our physical and mental health including regulating pain, mood, memory, sleep, appetite, and the immune response to cancer.
Our aim at OCT is aligned with doctors and regulators who want to see, through scientific studies, that cannabinoids can be effective in restoring this physiological balance when it is disrupted by disease.
At OCT, we are focused on 3 types of cannabinoids: synthezised phytocannabinoids (pCBs), cannabinoid derivatives and novel chemical entities (NCEs) which are not cannabinoids but behave like them.
Cannabinoids and the ECS
Science has shown us that a key biological system in the human body, The Endocannabinoid System (ECS), plays an important role in maintaining the balance between our physical and mental health including regulating pain, mood, memory, sleep, appetite, and the immune response to cancer.
Cannabinoids in pain
We know that people have been self-medicating with cannabis for hundreds of years. We will initially target drug development in neuropathic and visceral pain, focusing on chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuralgia (CIPN), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and trigeminal neuralgia.
Cannabinoids in oncology
As part of the rewiring of their transcriptional machinery that leads to transformation, cancer cells have high levels of ECS receptors and modulators. Thus, it is not a surprise that the potential of cannabinoids to alleviate the symptoms of cancer and even to treat its underlying causes, has been discussed in pre-clinical research papers since the early 1970s.
Future Indications
Neurology
The targeting of cannabinoid receptors on the cells of the central and peripheral nervous system has shown potential in treating debilitating neurological and neurodegenerative disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s, and epilepsy.
Autoimmunity and inflammation
Cannabinoid receptors are expressed on the surface of cells of the immune system where they play an important role in proliferation, apoptosis (programmed cell death), and production of immunomodulators, such as cytokines and chemokines, and other molecules that play important roles in inflammation and inflammatory pain.
