by Andrew Friedman
A new accelerator for the Israeli medical cannabis industry — iCAN:Israel-Cannabis — announced plans Monday to begin patient trials for a cannabis-based pharmaceutical product to treat insomnia by the end of 2017.
The product, called ican.sleep, was unveiled at CannaTech, Israel’s premier medical cannabis conference. The product is a joint venture between iCAN and CannRx Technology Inc., a New York-based subsidiary of Izun Pharmaceuticals Corporation.
iCAN and CannRx officials said in a statement that ican.sleep will utilize the CannRx’s CannTrap platform to provide a stable, controlled dose of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis. The breakthrough “cannaceutical” will begin patient trials in quarter three of 2017.
“Close to 20 percent of the population in the West suffer from insomnia,” said Bill Levine, Executive Chairman of CannRx Technologies. “The CannRx technology will effectively and rapidly induce sleep with a prolonged ‘through the night’ therapeutic effect will be of great benefit to this population. We are excited about the opportunity to work together with ICAN team and launch the ican.sleep product.”
Currently, most insomnia treatments provide short-term relief by improving sleep onset and duration, but many treatments are prone to side effects, including next-day sedation and potential for addiction and abuse. As a result, there is a growing market for safer drugs, as well as treatments that can be used for long-term therapy.
In Europe, insomnia treatments are currently only approved for short-term use (up to four weeks).
This development serves to answer that need.
Jeffrey Friedland, a noted author and speaker on the value of medical cannabis and member of the CannRx Board of Directors, said the partnership would play a significant role both in generating revenues and advancing the process of obtaining approval for cannabis products.
“CannRx’s proprietary platform enables the establishment of standard protocols and therapies based upon specific conditions and symptoms – which I believe are critical to the broad acceptance of medical cannabis,” Friedland said.
“Equally important, CannRx is more than a research and development company, its objective is to generate near-term revenues through the licensing of its technologies in the U.S. to state-licensed medical marijuana businesses.
“Ican.sleep is our first [step],” he said.
