Lexaria Bioscience (LEXX.Q) announced today that its tolerability and pharmacokinetic study VIRAL-A20-3 has been completed with positive results.
The VIRAL-A20-3 study was performed using Sprague-Dawley rats, with twenty rats dosed via oral gavage using either DehydraTECH™ or control colchicine formulation. Colchicine is an approved therapeutic with anti-inflammatory properties that is typically used to treat gout, a common and complex form of arthritis. However, colchicine medication has also demonstrated efficacy in mitigating the cytokine storm associated with SARS-CoV-2, which is responsible for inducing an aggressive inflammatory response.
Although colchicine shows promise as a treatment option for COVID-19, the medication comes with its own complications. In particular, oral colchicine in its available forms exhibits a diminished bioavailability of approximately 45% in humans. Moreover, colchicine is known to have a narrow therapeutic index, meaning there’s a fine line between toxic and non-toxic doses. With this in mind, there could be significant benefits in allowing colchicine dosing to be reduced while maintaining therapeutic delivery levels, therefore, increasing the margin between toxic and non-toxic doses.
If only there was a drug delivery technology capable of increasing bioavailability while reducing the overall colchicine required for dosing! If you haven’t guessed by now, Lexaria’s DehydraTECH™ technology fits that bill, having demonstrated increased delivery of colchicine in the VIRAL-A20-3 study. The study evaluated peak concentration (“Cmax”) and total drug delivery into the rodents’ bloodstream (“AUClast”). with this in mind, DehydraTECH™ enabled colchicine was able to achieve improvements of 91% and 167% in Cmax and AUClast, respectively.
The study also examined bioavailability with two other antiviral drugs previously untested by the Company. Bloodstream delivery findings were unremarkable, which Lexaria attributes to methodology limitations related to discerning blood levels for both drugs. For the time being, the Company intends to focus on DehydraTECH™ processed colchicine and other antiviral drugs it has tested previously given the superior results recently demonstrated through the VIRAL-A20-3 study.
According to Lexaria’s most recently quarterly report for the period ended May 31, 2021, the Company achieved a cash position of USD$8,108,512. This indicates significant growth from a previous cash position of USD$2,034,011 year-over-year. Furthermore, as of May 31, 2021, Lexaria’s total assets were sitting at USD$10,547,553 and its total liabilities were USD$281,381. With this in mind, Lexaria is well positioned to improve its antiviral drug delivery capabilities. It is worth noting that the advanced drug delivery market as a whole is projected to reach $310 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 6.1% between 2020 and 2025. As Lexaria continues to deliver on its 2021 strategic initiatives, it may be worth adding this company to your watchlist.
Lexaria’s share price rocketed today, opening at $8.38, up from a previous close of $6.59. The Company’s shares are up 66% and are currently trading at $10.98 as of 10:45AM ET. This indicates that there has been significant change following the news.
