• Reign Sapphire’s new marketing campaign promotes individualized ION athleisure wear
• Blockchain transparency provides backstory to jewelry purchases
• Company’s social media focus draws over 200,000 Facebook and Instagram followers

Charles Darwin once said that an ethical scientist should have no affections, merely a heart of stone. In the modern day, ethical science has turned the idea on its head, producing stone that Beverly Hills-based Reign Sapphire Corp. (OTCQB: RGNP) believes will win the hearty affection of conscientious consumers worldwide. Reign Sapphire’s direct-to-consumer operating model offers a variety of personal touches that allow jewelry enthusiasts to write their own stories of love for themselves and for the earth beneath their feet.

Reign Sapphire is known for three of its brands — Reign Sapphires, which markets the second-hardest natural substance on the planet; Coordinates Collection, which provides dated geolocation-inscribed custom wearables; and Le Bloc, which adds a personal touch through its selection of necklaces, bracelets and cuffs adorned with individualized block-shaped letters and icons. The company recently announced an initiative for further marketing of a fourth brand — the ION Collection by Jen Selter, which takes the Coordinates Collection custom jewelry concept into the athleisure and streetwear arena, specifically targeting ‘millennial and Instagram-savvy consumers’.

The ION Collection’s jewelry uses bright colors and textures suited for everyday wear to celebrate special moments in life, drawing on the Coordinates model of inscribing location data that’s personally significant to the consumer in an effort to cater to the athleisure market in areas that have been untapped by the company’s previously existing initiatives.

“A key factor in our sales success is the growth of our social media following, which is now over 200,000 Facebook and Instagram followers across our brands,” the company stated in its March 13 news release. “Pre-sale interest was encouraging and we feel ION Collection has potential to expand sales. We recently announced an agreement with StarShop to promote ION Collection by Jen Selter. StarShop is a pioneering celebrity-driven mobile commerce application launched through a collaboration between Sprint® and its Pinsight Media+® subsidiary.”

Reign Sapphire’s focus on a strategy of social media marketing and direct-to-consumer delivery has driven its lean production model’s revenues, and the news release states that further refinement of the strategy has led to new growth and year-over-year improvements in the company’s gross margins.

In February, the company announced plans to issue an Initial Coin Offering for its own cryptocurrency, Reign Coin, backed by its Australian-sourced sapphires. Reign Sapphire turned to Australia for exploration of quality, ‘conflict-free’ gems produced without the unethical labor practices that are common in some other countries. A pending white paper is slated to outline how the coins would earn interest and fees through transactions that would then be shared collectively by all coin holders in the network through crypto-dividends.

The company’s Reign Blockchain venture uses the ledger-based blockchain platform to verify the authenticity of the sapphires’ conflict-free ethics claims in a soil-to-savoir faire transparency that supports jewelry consumers’ delight in tracing the life stories of their products. In gauging the existing annual market health of colored gemstones such as sapphires two years ago, the Gemological Institute of America (http://ibn.fm/ItULr) noted that the greater transparency in today’s supply chain of sapphires is worthwhile to consumers not only because its human rights record tracks better than diamonds, the only stone to exceed sapphires for hardness, but also because the ledger system meets consumers’ sentimental wishes for “jewelry with a backstory.”

“Jewelry has always been an emotional purchase,” the GIA wrote. “Millennials, who have grown up knowledgeable about fair-trade products and sustainability, expect that issues pertaining to human rights, environmental impact, and social consciousness are addressed in the supply chain for the products they wish to purchase.”

Reign Ventures, the company’s joint-venture platform for investment and development of technology-related products, rounds out its portfolio.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ReignSC.com

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• Proprietary payment platform customized for legal cannabis merchants makes it a gateway to the industry for electronic money transactions
• CEO Jeremy Roberts says that Green platform takes state-sanctioned cannabis into the 21st century of electronic banking and financial services
• Green platform offers ease of cash management to merchants while enabling consumers and patients to purchase electronically, even with cryptocurrency

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions’ (OTC: REFG) Green platform, a top tier digital payment processing system, is designed to bring legalized cannabis and its cash management for licensed merchants and dispensaries into the world of digital financial services.

“What we’re launching is the very literal cure for the banking nightmare cannabis establishments face,” Jeremy Roberts, CEO of REFG, stated in a news release (http://ibn.fm/8FJlY). “This checks every box, from regulatory compliance, security, affordability, ease of use, integration — you name it, we’ve responded.”

Among its key advantages are the money management system and the simple signup feature for consumers. Not only is it FinCEN-compliant, Green offers both merchants and customers an enticing platform to manage money for sellers and financial services for buyers.

For merchants, it can be integrated with most any existing point-of-sale system. Recurring billing for consumers can be set up, as well as money management features such as payroll. Green also offers ease of digital payments, tracking of customer sales and even internal payments. For consumers, the platform is easy to join for purchasing legalized cannabis products from licensed merchants or dispensaries, even using cryptocurrency, if desired. REFG has partnered with First Bitcoin Capital Corporation to ensure acceptance of virtual currencies (http://ibn.fm/uFKfo).

To create loyalty and drive repeat purchases, REFG can even brand its Green cards with the merchant’s name and logo.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.MedicalCannabisPaymentSolutions.com

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• Subsidiary 359 Mobile UK Limited retains Joelson JD LLP as legal advisor for planned mobile games expansion into UK and European markets
• Online gambling market projected to reach $1 trillion by 2021, with mobile devices driving majority of growth
• Shift from physical games to online, mobile gaming expected to gain momentum with rising trend of social media gaming
• Global mobile games market closed out 2017 with estimated $50.4 billion in revenue

Software development and mobile solutions company Consorteum Holdings, Inc. (OTC: CSRH) is on the cusp of making significant progress in the mobile gaming and gambling sectors that are growing rapidly in the UK and European markets. Mobile gaming is attracting more users as social media and online entertainment penetrate every aspect of society. In fact, mobile games generated an estimated $50 billion in revenue in 2017, according to a report issued by Newzoo, a leading provider of market intelligence covering the global games, esports and mobile markets (http://ibn.fm/HdYhM). Online gambling is also expected to soar, with Juniper Research reporting that gambling activities are increasingly migrating to the online world and estimates calling for more than $1 trillion to be wagered online in 2021 (http://ibn.fm/rhr8v).

As a mobile platform company focused on “delivering compliant complex mobile-based transactions,” Consorteum is developing its software and mobile publishing resources for a variety of mobile offerings – including the online and mobile gambling industry. A recent announcement of an agreement with XpertX, Inc. to release the Wild Spots Bingo® mobile game in the UK by mid-2018 and in European markets later in the year (http://ibn.fm/Xtiq6) reflects Consorteum’s expansion strategy. Wild Spots Bingo will be integrated into the Universal Mobile Interface™ (“UMI”) gaming platform of 359 Mobile Inc., offering all of the fun and entertainment of classic bingo in a pattern-based, house-banked game.

“We are very excited to have Wild Spots Bingo released later in the year as the first wager-based mobile game offered on our UMI platform,” Consorteum CEO Fielding stated in a news release. “The UK and European market is a perfect target market for this offering. For years, industry analysts have cited the increasing growth of online gaming activity in the UK and Europe, including casino games, poker and especially bingo.”

In a move to make certain its approach to mobile gaming and online gambling meets regulatory guidelines, Consorteum subsidiary 359 Mobile UK Limited has retained London-based legal firm Joelson JD LLP. Fielding said that he and the 359 team are keenly aware of the many legal and regulatory issues CSRH must work through in order to be a solid player in this increasingly lucrative UK market space (http://ibn.fm/304nq). Joelson is well known around the world for its corporate and specialist advice to the gambling industry. The full-service law firm has been shortlisted for a 2018 Global Regulatory Award by GamblingCompliance, a leading provider of independent, legal, regulatory and business intelligence to the international gambling industry (http://ibn.fm/YwSjo).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Consorteum.com

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• Proceeds to be used for development of new cultivation and processing project in New Brunswick
• A boost to operating capital
• Canada plans to legalize the extraction of cannabinoids from hemp in mid-2018
• Market for hemp CBD products is predicted to grow to $450 million by 2020

Global Hemp Group, Inc. (CSE: GHG) (FRANKFURT: GHG) (OTC: GBHPF), a company focused on the cultivation of hemp and cannabinoid extraction for both domestic and international markets, announced on March 7, 2018, that it had closed a non-brokered private placement, consisting of 12.5 million units at a price of $0.12 per unit, to raise $1.5 million (http://ibn.fm/r62tW). Each unit comprises one common share of the company and one common share purchase warrant. The warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share at a price of $0.15 for a period of five years from closing. No finder’s fee was paid on this placement, and all securities issued are subject, in accordance with securities laws, to a four-month plus one day holding period from date of issue.

Global Hemp Group intends to use the proceeds for several purposes. Firstly, the capital will be used to fund the development of its New Brunswick hemp cultivation and extraction project. In conjunction with its joint venture partner, Marijuana Company of America (OTC: MCOA), Global Hemp Group completed its industrial hemp trials in northeast New Brunswick at the end of 2017. This marked the first harvest of hemp on the Acadian peninsula in 20 years. The partners have recruited hemp farmers to work 125 acres in 2018 and plan to increase the area under cultivation to over 1,000 acres within three years. Global Hemp will supply its considerable technical and management expertise for this project.

The proceeds will also be used to fund due diligence on potential acquisitions, namely in the State of Oregon, where Global Hemp Group is contemplating buying land for hemp cultivation and cannabinoid extraction. The funds will also be used to bolster the company’s working capital. Company insiders subscribed for a total amount of $371,542, representing 24.8 percent of the private placement.

Founded in 2014, Global Hemp Group is building a strategic portfolio of hemp-based companies to provide its global customer base with a consistent supply of high-quality hemp-derived products. It intends to leverage the huge market potential of hemp products to deliver significant ROI to its shareholders. The number of products that can be manufactured from the hemp plant is vast. It can be used to provide food, clothing, building materials, fuel and medicine. Additionally, its use for the development and production of cannabidiol (CBD)-based medical products has immense market potential. In the future, Global Hemp Group intends to establish several Hemp Agro-Industrial Zones (HAIZ) for the development of industrial hemp cultivation and processing facilities. The company plans to achieve the development of this concept through joint ventures, partnerships or acquisitions of companies involved in the farming, processing, manufacturing and distribution of hemp products.

The market for CBD-based medical products has witnessed a huge surge over the last year, and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 39 percent over the next four years. The Hemp Business Journal (http://ibn.fm/t5ybB) forecasts that the CBD market will grow to over $2 billion by 2020, with $450 million attributed to hemp-based cannabinoid medical products.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.GlobalHempGroup.com

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• Received grant from Government of Québec through Canno Inno Laboratories subsidiary
• Canna Inno Laboratories enhances collaboration between the company’s resources in Canada and the U.S. while providing access to grants
• Sound scientific research and transparent studies

Earth Science Tech, Inc. (OTC: ETST), a Florida-based biotechnology company focused on cannabis, industrial hemp and cannabinoid research and development for nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, announced last week that its subsidiary, Canna Inno Laboratories Inc., has received a grant from the Government of Québec for innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. ETST plans to apply for additional funding under Canada’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Credit program (http://ibn.fm/8VpYw).

Earth Science Tech formed Canna Inno Laboratories, Inc. in 2017. Strategically headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, it allows Earth Science Tech access to Canadian government and private grants offered to companies for innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. The awarded grant will support the pre-launch process of Earth Science’s three CBD-based products. These nutraceutical products aim to prevent common causes of cancer and help reduce occurrence rates. The pre-launch process includes a series of pre-clinical in vitro trials to fight breast cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. Once complete and patent pending, these high-grade hemp CBD oil products will be commercialized as nutraceuticals and provide alternative natural treatment solutions.

Through the in vitro study with the University of Central Oklahoma and DV Biologics, ETST has provided results that confirm the positive effect of its CBD on breast cancer, immune cell function and human brain cells. The goal of ETST is to discover solutions for conditions that currently have no effective treatment, targeting diseases in which the benefits of CBD have already been demonstrated by researchers worldwide. ETST seeks to increase the effectiveness of cannabinoids and/or CBD and thereby improve treatments for different diseases. The company focuses on providing sound scientific research and transparency on the progression of studies done on its highest quality and purity, full spectrum high-grade hemp CBD products.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.EarthScienceTech.com

• IEG Holdings services vast underbanked market in U.S.
• Company enjoys 80 percent repeat customer business
• ACF Equity Research projects that company revenues will quadruple from 2017 estimates by 2020

In a January 2018 report, ACF Equity Research projected that IEG Holdings Corp. (OTCQB: IEGH) revenues will essentially quadruple over the next couple years and the company will maintain positive EBITDA (http://ibn.fm/nOgdc). Serving the large underbanked population in the United States, IEG Holdings provides unsecured, five-year consumer loans of $5,000 and $10,000 under the brand name ‘Mr. Amazing Loans’ through its website (www.MrAmazingLoans.com). The company is licensed and/or holds certificates of authority to originate direct consumer loans in 20 states and boasts an exceptional 80 percent repeat customer business rate.

Estimates from an FDIC survey (http://ibn.fm/xyXXU) reveal that approximately 25 million U.S. households were underbanked in 2015, meaning that the household had a checking or savings account but lacked sufficient access to mainstream financial services and products. These households are often deprived of banking services such as credit cards or loans and forced to rely on non-traditional forms of finance and micro-finance, such as check cashing services, loan sharks and pawnbrokers.

IEG Holdings services this void in the underbanked market that is typically overlooked by mainstream institutional credit providers. Avoiding the risky subprime market, IEG Holdings targets the near prime loan market and charges credit card-type fees that range from 12.0 percent to 29.9 percent APR. This offsets any potential defaults and delivers healthy returns on the company’s loan portfolio. IEGH’s customer acquisition cost is only about half that of traditional brick and mortar lenders, and the company has an automated online loan approval process with transparent contracts and no hidden fees. The transparency and easy loan approval are strong contributing factors in the company’s unparalleled 80 percent repeat customer business.

From approximately $2 million in 2017 estimated revenues, ACF Equity Research projects that the revenue of IEGH will reach $5.33 million in FY2019 and $8.23 million in FY2020, with positive EBITDA in both years. The company is currently debt-free and undertaking a creative cryptocurrency initiative that may well make IEG Holdings one of the few loan companies in the world that could have its own legal initial coin offering (ICO).

Investors interested in the huge potential returns seen by the disruptive fintech sector should take a serious look at IEG Holdings before price reflects the projected growth.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.InvestmentEvolution.com

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• Cannabis testing comprises about five percent of the multibillion-dollar cannabis industry
• Company currently operates nine testing labs in five U.S. states
• Plans in view to double number of operating labs by year-end 2018 and potentially expand into Canada

Leading cannabis testing services provider EVIO, Inc. (OTCQB: EVIO) is on a growth trajectory that is bounded only by the growth limits of the blossoming cannabis industry itself. In other words, things are looking good for EVIO.

Cannabis testing services like those offered by EVIO currently comprise about five percent of the total marijuana market, which is projected to reach $31.4 billion globally by 2021 (http://ibn.fm/vcQ3t). Ancillary services to the cannabis market make an attractive investment opportunity that is considered more reliable in many ways than investing in the plant directly. EVIO’s offerings further add the inducement that cannabis testing is mandatory and will continue to be so, making this particular segment of the industry a solid one that boasts longevity, predictability and sustainability. The market for cannabis testing is, for these reasons and others, one of the most enticing for investors within the legal marijuana space.

Offering accredited cannabis testing as well as leading-edge analytical and consulting services, EVIO currently operates nine testing laboratories in five states and is in position to increase that number to 18 labs by the end of 2018.

Among current plans in view for EVIO, the company is in the process of evaluating new lab opportunities in four additional U.S. states, as well as in Canada. With Canada on the precipice of legalizing recreational marijuana use nationwide, expanding services into that country could be a smart strategic move for EVIO. Currently, about 90 percent of worldwide cannabis sales are driven by the U.S., and Canada is sure to claim its share of that percentage once recreational use is legalized there, which is anticipated to occur by July 2018.

Services offered by EVIO to the cannabis industry include leading-edge testing and verification services that meet state mandates and help ensure both the quality and safety of America’s cannabis supply. The company additionally offers expert advisory services to help cannabis companies secure their cannabis licenses and optimize their operations and products.

The demand for such services will continue to keep pace with the rapid growth of the legal cannabis industry as whole, positioning EVIO to continue its promising growth trajectory within this burgeoning space as the broader cannabis market continues to expand.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.EVIOLabs.com

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• Risk of hackers and malware stealing cryptocurrency rising as popularity of digital currency grows
• ZenaPay bitcoin and ethereum wallet provides secure, reliable and efficient payment solutions
• Numerous point-of-sale management apps accepting cryptocurrency, setting ZenaPay apart from other business models
• More than 21.5 million people are using blockchain-based crypto-wallets

Among the new financial buzzwords added to Merriam-Webster’s famous dictionary website are ‘blockchain’ and ‘cryptocurrency’, proving that this latest high-tech terminology has quickly gone mainstream (http://ibn.fm/fon41). Epazz, Inc. (OTC: EPAZ), a leading provider of cloud-based software solutions and blockchain mobile apps – including its ZenaPay cryptocurrency wallet app – is successfully developing several cutting-edge technologies that allow consumers to acquire digital currencies, both online and at the point-of-sale. Users with bitcoin or ethereum in their ZenaPay wallets can use the digital currency to make in-store purchases easily, while vendors get paid in a unique and secure system. The Epazz ZenaPay cryptocurrency wallet, available through the App Store and Google Play (http://ibn.fm/MiWVf), has been downloaded more than 25,000 times by Android users since it was launched in December 2017. The latest update supports ethereum, with plans to support Litecoin and SegWit on the near horizon.

Keeping cryptocurrency safe from hackers and malware is an essential proposition and one that every crypto-trader takes seriously – even someone as famous as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who said that he recently had seven bitcoins (worth roughly $71,400 at the time) stolen by someone using a fraudulent credit card scheme (http://ibn.fm/3m6kK). Cryptocurrency holders are advised to keep their financial investment in a secure wallet, such as the Epazz ZenaPay wallet, and to guard against malicious attacks by never giving anyone the wallet’s private key (http://ibn.fm/QCB45).

Epazz has already addressed many of the concerns that users have when it comes to cryptocurrencies by developing and adding several blockchain and bitcoin apps to benefit the crypto-enthusiast. These apps, available for download on both Google Play and the Apple App Store, include CryptoFolio (http://ibn.fm/gzp0p), a helpful app for tracking and managing bitcoin, ethereum and altcoin portfolios; Bitcoin Altcoin Tracker (http://ibn.fm/snnbA), which monitors cryptocurrency market cap data for investor support; and Bitcoin Live Chart (http://ibn.fm/urZRv), a utility app that monitors and displays all major data for bitcoin trading and mining.

Creation of the ZenaPay wallet has evolved by listening to feedback from users who are downloading and using the product, as Epazz CEO Shawn Passley, PhD, stated in a news release (http://ibn.fm/0DNWz).

According to a recent report by Statista, the total number of blockchain-based cryptocurrency wallet users worldwide has grown exponentially since the digital currency concept of bitcoin was first created in 2009. The number of blockchain-based crypto-wallets in December 2017 stood at just over 21.5 million, up from a little less than 3.2 million in first quarter of 2015 (http://ibn.fm/2ZV9k).

In a March 1, 2018, article in Money (http://ibn.fm/G0Xi4), futurist and author Thomas Frey is quoted as saying, “Cryptocurrency is very much here to stay.” Frey, who is scheduled to speak to the Federal Reserve in September on the topic, even predicts that cryptocurrencies are going to displace roughly 25 percent of national currencies by 2030. “They’re just much more efficient, the way they run.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Epazz.com

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• Pivot Pharmaceuticals developing disruptive formulations for cannabis-infused markets
• Company’s goal is to strengthen dosage predictability and improve product stability
• Recent acquisitions and planned acquisitions give Pivot vertical position in multi-billion-dollar industries

Despite recent setbacks to efforts seeking broader marijuana legalization in North America (http://ibn.fm/P14jj), the tide of social preferences for cannabis availability, even in recreational applications, continues to advance (http://ibn.fm/Q1YLp). Pivot Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CSE: PVOT) (OTCQB: PVOTF) (FRA: NPAT) is helping to advance efforts to legitimize the drug’s use, both in medicinal and recreational settings, by pursuing ever-increasing methods for consuming cannabis’s derivatives in quantities with predictable outcomes.

“Pivot’s goal is to increase cannabinoid bioavailability, drug release rates and improve product stability, and consumers should be able to confidently take correct and accurate doses to help meet their health and wellness needs,” Joseph Borovsky, Pivot’s vice president of product formulation, stated in a recent news release (http://ibn.fm/pjRuj).

The company has filed continuation patents to maintain its impetus in making cannabis available through powdered formulations that can be combined with existing products in the food and beverage market. That includes health and wellness products such as natural sleep-aids, cold medications and vitamins.

On March 6, Pivot Pharmaceuticals announced its acquisition of Thrudermic, LLC, a North Carolina company invested in a transdermal lipid-based nano-dispersion technology to make cannabis formulations available through external delivery. Thrudermic has filed three new patent applications for Pivot related to better formulation and delivery of its product as the company pursues new routes of drug administration.

Pivot’s acquisition of California’s ERS Holdings, LLC in February not only strengthened its options for enhanced health and wellness products; the move gave the company added visibility to beverage makers such as beer companies working to mitigate a potential decline in profits as their customers divert discretionary income from alcohol consumption to cannabis consumption.

“The (Ready-To-Infuse-Cannabis technology) family of patents will be transformational for the food and beverage industry. Based on our interaction with key players in the beverage market, we anticipate that there will be a significant substitution in consumer choices towards cannabis infused drinks. With this acquisition, we have positioned Pivot to be at the forefront of this enormous new market,” Pivot CEO Patrick Frankham stated in a news release about the acquisition (http://ibn.fm/ycJTq).

The company has also announced plans to acquire Agro-Biotech, a Quebec-based Canadian-licensed cannabis producer (http://ibn.fm/mrER1). Agro-Biotech operates a licensed hydroponic cannabis production facility that can turn out 10,000 kilograms per year, giving Pivot a source for its products as it strives to achieve a stronger vertical position in the industry for cannabinoids, cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

An agreement between Pivot and Germany’s Solmic Research GmbH gave the company rights to technology designed to give cancer patients relief from vomiting, nausea, neutropenia and anemia during chemotherapy treatment. Those side effects trouble an estimated 70 to 80 percent of chemotherapy patients and often lead to the discontinuation of treatment before the illness has been completely addressed, according to Transparency Market Research (http://ibn.fm/Ed8aD). Cannabis’s therapeutic abilities are expected to help it grow into a $55.8 billion market by 2025, according to a 2017 report by Grand View Research (http://ibn.fm/DZA8A), and the cancer supportive care products market is expected to reach $29.87 billion by 2021.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.PivotPharma.com

• Developing pain relievers that mimic body’s natural pain relief peptides
• Other programs include development of treatments for diabetes, synthetization of blue scorpion venom and study of a novel cannabinoid delivery platform
• Revenues from international licensing strategy

The discovery of endomorphins in 1997 was a remarkable reminder of the human body’s wondrous nature. Endomorphins are naturally produced morphine-like substances with an affinity for the µ-opioid receptors in the brain, which fortunately happen to be the best places to alleviate pain. With a potency that far exceeds morphine, these endogenous substances are the body’s first line of defense against pain and stress. Since their discovery, efforts to replicate them in the lab have been underway, and a number of those initiatives are now bearing fruit in R&D establishments. A signal example is the biotechnology developed by Dr. Harry Parekh, which provides a drug development platform for PreveCeutical Medical Inc. (CSE: PREV) (OTCQB: PRVCF) (FSE: 18H). Using it, the health sciences company plans to develop endomorphin analogs which, unlike opioids, aren’t addictive and don’t trigger the respiratory depression that all too often causes fatal overdosing.

The development of this new class of pain relieving drugs could usher in an era of more temperate painkillers. Opioids are effective in reducing pain, but their use is blighted by possibilities of sinister side effects. Since they delay the functioning of the body’s respiratory apparatus, the peril of fatal overdose is ever-present. In addition, their efficacy diminishes over time as the body develops resistance to their action, and, thus, larger doses are required for relief. Unfortunately, bigger doses can kill. However, peptide-based pain relievers are devoid of these defects and so offer safer regimens of pain management to patients. Moreover, by employing them as rehab tools to ease the pangs of withdrawal, a lifeline might be thrown to those addicted to opioids.

The linker technology that underlies PreveCeutical’s drug development platform was developed at the University of Queensland in Australia. At that impressive institution, Dr. Parekh headed a team that developed synthetic molecules capable of mimicking the endomorphins produced by the body for pain relief, as explained by PreveCeutical chairman and CEO Stephen Van Deventer in a recent video interview (http://ibn.fm/PLtRQ). Although they are as potent as morphine, the effect of these endomorphins is transitory, since they metabolize in seconds. However, Dr. Parekh’s linker technology stabilizes those molecules, allowing them to be used as drugs while maintaining and enhancing their efficacy.

As a result, a number of lead candidates are in the pipeline, since the technology offers an opportunity not just to develop anodynes but also to expand the range of drug delivery methods beyond injection to oral ingestion, for example. Notably, pain management regimens are safer, because the substances aren’t addictive and the body doesn’t develop a tolerance to them. To explore the potential of the technology further, a two-year program has been launched to discover more peptides, expand the library of these peptides and launch pre-clinical trials.

In addition to the development of safer pain reliever, PreveCeutical has three other major programs underway. The first involves the infusion of cannabinoids into a soluble gel. This Sol-gel technology, also a brainchild of Dr. Parekh, was developed at the University of Queensland, which has agreed to license it to PreveCeutical. However, while the Sol-gel technology belongs to the University, its application to infusion of cannabinoids is covered by IP owned by PreveCeutical. A second program is exploring ways to synthesize blue scorpion venom, already used as a biomarker or “tumor paint” in surgery. A third is a four-year program designed to explore how these gene therapies may be used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity. An editorial and companion audio press release featuring PreveCeutical’s focus on gene therapies is now available on NetworkNewsWire (http://ibn.fm/BoON0).

PreveCeutical has appointed Dr. Maher Khaled as director of international operations. Khaled will lead PreveCeutical’s commercialization efforts for its growing portfolio of intellectual property (http://ibn.fm/ugN2S). For many years an investment manager with the Enterprise Seed Funds of Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, Khaled has been successfully commercializing therapeutic and diagnostic technologies for over a decade.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.PreveCeutical.com

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