- Lexaria Bioscience is helping to revolutionize efforts to provide common drug substances in an ingestible method that avoids unhealthy practices such as inhaled smoking or vaping
- Lexaria’s DehydraTECH platform works to deliver the chemical compounds to the blood stream at speeds comparable to inhalation methods, providing the means for discrete use and avoiding frustrating waits for users with dependencies
- The company recently obtained a patent in Australia that recognizes DehydraTECH not only as a food and beverage platform, but also as a potential means of pharmaceutical use for combatting select illnesses
- As Canada prepares to introduce legalization of cannabis food and beverage products next month, analysts forecast a market worth $2.7 billion a year for edibles and alternative cannabis products, with extract products including edibles comprising 60 percent of the total
As Canada prepares to roll out its ‘Cannabis 2.0’ wave of product legalization focused on edible and drinkable forms of the plant’s core ingredients less than a month from now, with the products themselves hitting store shelves beginning in December, analysts are anticipating a consumables market rife with opportunity for innovation. Deloitte predicts the Canadian market for edibles and alternative cannabis products alone will be worth $2.7 billion annually, and that cannabis extract-based products including edibles will make up nearly 60 percent of that amount at $1.6 billion (http://ibn.fm/pxHkr).
Bioactive technology innovator Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (CSE: LXX) (OTCQX: LXRP) is preparing to make its presence known in this new marketplace, building on a relationship forged with alcohol-free beer, wine and adult format beverage maker Hill Street Beverage Company Inc. (TSX.V: BEER) to present its DehydraTECH-licensed products to Canada’s licensed producers.
DehydraTECH is Lexaria’s patented platform for delivering ingestible substances in a rapid-effect manner that works with all psychoactive and non-psychoactive cannabinoids, nicotine, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and fat-soluble vitamins, whether in the form of foods, liquid emulsions, tablets or capsules (http://ibn.fm/Ope7W).
The brand formed in conjunction with Hill Street will feature processed tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and/or cannabidiol (CBD) powder derived from cannabis or its less chemically psychoactive hemp variant.
Canada’s 2.0 regulations have been designed to sidestep some of the health concerns that have arisen in parts of the United States where cannabis edibles are manufactured, taking into particular account concerns about the potential for infused candies, which are currently popular, to appeal to children who may be less physically able to process cannabis substances than adults (http://ibn.fm/pY5kP).
Lexaria’s technological stance is that it “promotes healthier administration methods, lower overall dosing and higher effectiveness of ingestible drugs and other beneficial molecules … (than) other delivery methods for bioactive substances in widespread use today such as inhalational delivery through smoking.”
In an interview with Forbes (http://ibn.fm/uCoMP) earlier this year regarding DehydraTECH’s efforts to forge an alternative to smoking cigarettes for people with a nicotine addiction, CEO Chris Bunka noted some of his own personal motivation, stating, “Wherever there are many victims from past injustices, there is a lot of anger and resentment that doesn’t go away easily. My father also died from lung cancer just last year, so I am no fan.”
Lexaria’s non-combustion-based, non-inhalation-based delivery method requires no chemicals or additives.
“We use a patented dehydration synthesis process to combine the nicotine with simple ingredients like sunflower oil in a unique way,” Bunka told Forbes. “It allows for the removal of the bitter taste often associated with nicotine without the need for artificial flavors that are often appealing to children. Moreover, tested in animals in 2018, we proved that DehydraTECH could deliver nicotine to the bloodstream of an animal in as little as two minutes. The fact that it is fast means that smokers might not be frustrated waiting for their nicotine experience to begin, the way they have been with traditional nicotine products such as gums and lozenges.”
Lexaria’s subsidiary structure for managing licensing for differing molecular classes has not generated as much media buzz when it comes to NSAID pain relievers such as aspirin and ibuprofen, or for fat-soluble vitamins, but these common household remedies also have potential harmful digestion effects and time-intensive concerns that DehydraTECH’s delivery tech may be able to sidestep.
The company also announced recently that it received a new patent in Australia for potential pharmaceutical applications of its DehydraTECH for combatting ‘certain conditions’, including heart disease, neurological diseases including Parkinson’s, hepatic (liver) diseases and diabetes through the delivery of cannabinoids (http://ibn.fm/QOxfP).
Nicotine-containing edibles also showed the potential for reducing Parkinson’s disease risk during testing in 2013 (http://ibn.fm/faHXq), showing still further possibilities for Lexaria’s technology.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.LexariaBioscience.com
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to LXRP are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/LXRP
