On September 14, 2020 Pascal Biosciences Inc. (TSX.V:PAS) ("Pascal") and SōRSE Technology Corporation ("SōRSE") reported that they have entered into a Collaborative Research Agreement (the "Agreement") to advance Pascal’s PAS-393 into clinical testing (Press release, Pascal Biosciences, SEP 14, 2020, View Source [SID1234565089]). Pascal and SōRSE will share their respective technologies to test the cannabinoid PAS-393 in human volunteers, enabling testing of cancer patients treated with checkpoint inhibitors.
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As initially announced last March, this partnership leverages SōRSE’s industry-leading formulation technology with Pascal’s proprietary cannabinoid programs for clinical trials. This will be the first pharmaceutical use of the novel formulation technology developed by SōRSE. The Agreement will include Pascal’s intellectual property, which covers the use of cannabinoids in cancer patients treated with checkpoint inhibitors.
SōRSE currently sells and licenses a proprietary water-soluble cannabinoid emulsion technology (patent-pending) that enables increased bioavailability, accurate dosing, and more than 12 months’ shelf stability. Pascal and SōRSE scientists will optimize a cannabinoid formulation for human subjects and will then test the formulated PAS-393 in volunteers. SōRSE will provide US$750,000 in research funding to Pascal throughout the 15-month collaboration and will pay for related research expenditures.
Following characterization of safety and pharmacology in a Phase 1a clinical trial, Pascal and SōRSE may elect to continue clinical development as equal partners in a Phase 1b cancer trial in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor. Dr. Gray will present scientific data this September 16th at the 3rd Annual International Cannabinoid-Derived Pharmaceutical Conference occurring in Boston, MA; the topic of his presentation is "Identifying and Validating Mechanism of Action In vivo/vitro."
"This is an impressive step forward for both Pascal and SōRSE, and hopefully our product will be a significant help to patients," commented Dr. Patrick Gray, CEO of Pascal. "This will be the first clinical trial for each company, and we look forward to a long, fruitful relationship."
"At SōRSE, we’re driven by our mission to help people better their lives through superior cannabinoid ingredients and delivery methods," said SōRSE CEO Howard Lee. "We were thrilled when Pascal reached out to us in the summer of 2019 asking to use our emulsion in their research study on immune recognition markers on cancer cells. Today, we are excited to continue to support pharmaceutical studies of cannabinoids with Pascal and other world-class researchers."
SōRSE intends to collaborate with other researchers and product developers to study cannabinoids in other medical applications. Pascal will continue to pursue other non-cancer indications for PAS-393.