Cannabis Company in Human Clinical Trials For Breast Cancer Patients

Results of a new study may boost the outcomes for breast cancer patients and for Tilray stock.

A potential cannabis-based treatment for peripheral neuropathy in breast cancer patients is being tested against the side effects of chemotherapy drug, Paclitaxel. These patients frequently suffer nerve pain during chemotherapy treatment. Recently, Canadian cannabis producer, Tilray, completed a preliminary mouse study on the drug and hopes to soon begin human clinical trials. If successful, Tilray stock can expect a significant boost.

If human subjects in the clinical trial respond favorably, researchers will be able to develop a treatment protocol. Breast cancer patients could potentially see relief from an excruciatingly painful condition. Of further benefit is that patients would then be better able to complete chemotherapy treatments. This will mean improved patient outcomes.

Tilray Stock Forecast

Tilray has a solid history of medical cannabis performance. The Canadian company was the first producer of medical cannabis products to be Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certified within North America. This occurred in 2016, three years after the company’s inception. It led to a huge boost in Tilray stock.

Becoming GMP certified involves a stringent government process via the U.S. Food And Drug Administration (FDA). This ensures that at each step, from initial research through the manufacturing process, there are strict policies in place to create safe and effective products. This is especially important for a company creating medicinal cannabis. Namely as it may influence the way these products are viewed and accepted within a wider, and possibly less accepting, market.

Twelve stock analysts via CNN have varying degrees of faith in Tilray stock performance. Out of eighteen stock analysts consulted, eleven advised to hold onto shares, with five recommending to buy shares, and none recommending to sell. While it may depend on the health of the market overall, it is always best to perform further research prior to making such decisions. The positive thing for those with Tilray stock is that they’re doing their own research, on more ways for medical cannabis to heal people.

Using Cannabis to Help the Body Heal

For thousands of years, all over the world, humans have used cannabis as medicine. Around the 1990s researchers began to gain a better understanding of how it affects the human body. As more is learned about the endocannabinoid system, they will be able to develop more therapies to help the body heal using cannabis-based products.

Early research found that the endocannabinoid system helps the body to maintain homeostasis, which is its natural balance, including maintaining sleep cycle, temperature, and metabolism. There are two types of receptors throughout the body. The central nervous system is dominant in CB1 receptors. Alternately, CB2 receptors are more prominent within the peripheral nervous system, including immune cells. These play a role in controlling inflammation.

The body responds to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) versus cannabidiol (CBD) in different ways. This is because of the two different types of receptors in the body, and the enzymes within this system. According to an article in Pharmacology Review from September 2006, “[M]odulating the activity of the endocannabinoid system turned out to hold therapeutic promise in a wide range of disparate diseases and pathological conditions…” One such condition is an unfortunate side effect of common chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Paclitaxel Pain in Breast Cancer Patients

According to breastcancer.org, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime, as will one in eight hundred thirty-three men. Surprisingly, the three highest risk factors are beyond their control: age, gender, and genetics. Women over fifty-five are the most likely to develop it. And those with mutations in the BRCA1, BRCA2, or PALB2 genes are at an even higher risk of developing not only breast cancer, but also ovarian cancer.

Paclitaxel and Docetaxel are two common chemotherapy agents. Doctors prescribe them for both early stage and metastatic breast cancer. Doctors also prescribe these drugs for several other types of cancer. The choice of which chemotherapy agent to use depends upon several factors. These factors include age, type of cancer, and even a patient’s weight. Both drugs inhibit cell growth as well as cell reproduction. They are derived from Taxanes, which are actually extracts from two species of Yew tree.

Unfortunately, these drugs can have particularly undesirable effects. Sixty-seven percent of patients develop an excruciating condition called Taxane-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy (TIPN). The condition has no specific treatment, and it may be irreversible.

When patients begin to experience TIPN, it is often so painful that it causes patients to stop treatment. An article in the journal Toxics (2015)describes the condition as a form of neurotoxicity and goes on to explain that Taxanes are responsible for “nerve-demyelination” as well. Myelin is a protein that forms a sheath or coating over nerves. When something damages myelin, several neurological conditions can occur.]

Tilray Puts Stock in Peripheral Neuropathy Treatment

Basically, Neurontin and Gabapentin have varied results in anti-TIPN studies. However, a combination of THC and CBD led to a positive response for the mice in the Tilray study. This means a clinical trial with human subjects may yield equally positive results. According to tilray.com, the company plans to perform a randomized, placebo-controlled study. Half of the patients will receive an investigational product; the other half will receive a product with no active cannabinoids. During this eight-week study, patients will receive treatment twice daily.

Tilray contributions include several other studies across multiple countries, with even more in their pipeline. Some of their other clinical trials involve cannabinoid-based treatments for pediatric epilepsy, as well cannabidiol as a treatment for mental health conditions, for HIV, and for glioblastoma. There are multiple ways to use cannabis as medicine, across many modalities. Tilray is innovating and researching with the goal to create new products with a high level of efficacy.