Pharma Company Completes CBD Testing In Large Animals, Aims For Humans Next

The CBD research trials for a Canada-based pharma company started small. But they’re getting bigger, thanks to partnerships with universities in Israel, and leaders hope the trials will soon be cleared to happen with human beings.

Innocan, a pharma tech company that makes CBD-integrated medical products and also researches how CBD interacts with popular prescriptions, said over the weekend it recently completed an experimental study of its CBD-loaded liposome technology on large animals including cows, horses and goats.

The results demonstrated that CBD had similar effects on the animals as a previous company study on smaller animals including several different rodents and popular household pets.

“The jump from a small animal model to a large animal model is immensely meaningful in the development of the LPT platform for humans,” explained Professor Chezy Barenholz of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Barenholz was the project’s lead researcher.

Iris Bincovich, Innocan’s CEO, added the results offer “promise that CBD can become a treatable pharma solution,” but did not specify a time period for when the company hopes to begin such research on humans.

Previous research has found CBD offers a variety of benefits to animals. A 2020 study in Tennessee found low doses of the cannabinoid to have a mild soothing effect on dogs suffering anxiety related to loud noises. A separate peer-reviewed study last year concluded that large doses of CBD helped canines suffering from osteoarthritis to feel less pain. Similar tests on mice have shown CBD helps with mobility, and several programs across U.S. agricultural universities have begun to investigate CBD’s effect on livestock.

But research on CBD’s effect in humans has long been limited by the U.S. federal government. The Food and Drug Administration has approved only one CBD product — a prescription to treat people with rare seizure disorders — including Lennox Gastaut syndrome, Dravet syndrome and tuberous sclerosis complex. The agency warns CBD can produce several side effects, including liver injury and male reproductive toxicity, but has not allowed for widescale research to substantiate those claims.

Israel, Canada, The Netherlands and Czech Republic are among the most CBD-friendly countries for both use and research of the compound. Bincovich said Innocan will continue to conduct its research in Israel moving forward.