Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies has signed a drug development agreement with Canada-based Dalriada Drug Discovery Inc.
Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies Holdings (OCTP), the holding company of Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies Ltd (OCT), has entered into an agreement with Dalriada to propel OCT’s R&D activities. A goal of the collaboration is the selection of two drug candidates ready for pre-clinical development by the end of 2022.
Dalriada will evaluate cannabinoid derivatives, which includes 335 cannabinoid derivatives, 14 patent families and related intellectual property, acquired under the exclusive licence agreement with Canopy Growth Corporation to advance OCT’s Programmes 3 and 4. These programmes target pain, neurology, and inflammation.
OCTP chief executive, Dr John Lucas, commented: “Whilst our main focus remains pain therapy, the collaboration with Dalriada, in synergy with the strategic collaborations recently announced, will enable us to expand and differentiate our efforts into other therapeutic areas including neurology, oncology and inflammation.
“Working with the team that helped Canopy to develop its library is hugely exciting for OCT and will help us get the very best out of that important acquisition.”
Dalriada designed, synthesised and experimentally tested all of the compounds in the Canopy library, and OCT will be able to leverage Dalriada’s existing knowledge and experience as it continues research and development aimed at identifying multiple drug candidates.
Dalriada chief executive and co-founder, Diana Kraskouskaya, said: “Dalriada looks forward to supporting OCT advance the cannabinoid derivative library we helped discover. Targeting the endogenous cannabinoid system with small molecules holds significant promise in delivering improved therapies and over the years, we have significantly invested in building our expertise and infrastructure in this pharmacology as well as our work with controlled substances.
“Together we are well equipped to rapidly advance OCT’s pipeline through hit-to-lead and lead optimisation.”
The agreement with Dalriada follows another recent agreement with Oxford-based StemTech, which will also be providing support across all four of OCTP’s drug development programmes.
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