Curtin and Little Green Pharma partner on medicinal cannabis

Curtin University and Perth-based company Little Green Pharma Ltd have joined forces to develop a range of new medicinal cannabis products that have the potential to deliver more accurate and targeted treatment for a wide range of medical conditions.

Under a new partnership, Curtin has provided an exclusive worldwide licence to Little Green Pharma for the micro-drug delivery system ARISE (Atomised Rapid Injection for Solvent Extraction) and will use raw cannabis extract, provided by Little Green Pharma, to commence an 18-month development program to generate new medicinal cannabis formulations.

ARISE developer and John Curtin Distinguished Emeritus Professor Neil Foster, from Curtin’s Western Australian School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, said the technology had the potential to provide a platform for producing medicinal cannabis formulations capable of making their way into a patient’s bloodstream more quickly and efficiently.

“ARISE is a supercritical anti-solvent extraction technology which can potentially re-engineer the active pharmaceutical ingredients within cannabis into micro particles, meaning they can potentially be more easily absorbed into the bloodstream than conventional forms of the medicinal drug,” Professor Foster said.

“Better absorption means patients could potentially benefit by being prescribed lower doses for the same therapeutic effect, thereby reducing the drug burden on their bodies, as well as related side-effects and costs of treatment. The aim of the partnership will be to manufacture these high-absorption cannabinoids on a large, commercially viable scale.”

Little Green Pharma Head of Research and Innovation, Dr Leon Warne, said it was an exciting opportunity for Little Green Pharma, as Australia’s first locally grown medicinal cannabis producer, to partner with Curtin University on a genuinely innovative drug delivery technology.

“ARISE has the potential to significantly improve the accuracy of delivery and ease-of-dosing for patients prescribed medicinal cannabis,” Dr Warne said.

“This partnership is part of our ongoing commitment to medicinal cannabis research that ultimately benefits patients and improves lives.”

For more information about ARISE, visit here.