Charlotte’s Web Holdings, one of the more popular and trusted makers in hemp CBD extract products, announces a collaboration between its CW Labs science division and the University at Buffalo’s Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences to advance hemp cannabinoid science through a research program that provides a better understanding of the therapeutic uses and safety of cannabinoids.
This new scientific initiative builds on early projects that have been envisioned with Dr. Gene D. Morse, Director of the Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences (CIGBS) at the University at Buffalo and State University of New York (SUNY) Distinguished Professor. The new partnership includes collaboration on a global program to advance cannabinoid sciences implementation research and safety for both supplement and biomedical use of cannabinoids with the coordination center at Buffalo, N.Y. Its purpose is to identify optimal approaches to advance the safe use of cannabinoid-containing products and identify the gaps in current knowledge. The program will include the design and implementation of novel population-based clinical informatics analysis using large databases, pilot projects that facilitate better understanding of pre-clinical and clinical pharmacology, and drug interactions to develop safe approaches to cannabinoid therapy.
“Charlotte’s Web’s CW Labs has an advanced team of scientists based here on the medical campus. We are excited to work with the clear leaders in the hemp sector, both in the quality of their hemp genetics and their products,” said Dr. Morse.
“We realize the value of partnering our established cannabinoid product business models with an internationally recognized leader in clinical research to address the growing field of cannabinoid health and wellness products,” said Tim Orr, CW Labs’ Senior Vice President of Innovation. “This collaboration will oversee multidisciplinary teams conducting cutting edge research in new areas of implementation to expand the database of evidence that can guide future therapeutics development in the field. We are pleased to have established this working relationship with UB’s Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences and the opportunity that this new alliance creates.”
Building of this multi-disciplinary team is underway. It includes UB investigators: Dr. Laszlo Mechtler, a Neurologist and Neuro-oncologist in the department of Neurology, Medical Director of the Dent Neurologic Institute and it’s Cannabis Clinic and Research Center, as well as the Chief of Neuro-Oncology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dr. Jason Sprowl, a pharmaceutical scientist in the department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UB, investigators at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica, Dr. Marvin Reid, director of the Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Professor Thejani Delgoda, who leads the Natural Products Institute, and Professor Wendel Abel of Community Health and Psychiatry. At the University of Zimbabwe, Professor Charles Maponga, Director of the Clinical Pharmacology Laboratory, is engaged with planning clinical research and related regulatory policies to promote safe cannabinoid use.
The collaboration will pursue implementation research related to the wellness aspects of cannabinoids through the established national and global capacity-building efforts that form the foundation of the UB Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences. This includes programs that have been developed with the Dent Neurologic Institute, home to one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive physician-directed medical cannabis programs with more than 15,000 active patients, the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus in Jamaica, and the University of Zimbabwe Center of Excellence in Pharmaceutical Innovation in the developing Health Galaxy Park site in Harare, Zimbabwe. The goal is to build a global collaboration of partners with an interest in cannabinoid sciences that includes pre-clinical and translational pharmacology, human safety, and community-based health informatics.
“These scientists bring global expertise in areas such as cellular transport mechanisms that influence cannabinoid distribution throughout the body, clinical pharmacology mechanisms that contribute to different responses among individuals and potential interactions between botanical cannabinoids and commonly used medications and will contribute to a global understanding of cannabinoids” said Dr. Morse.
Dr. Morse, and Dr. Jeffrey C. Lombardo, Program Coordinator for Global Cannabinoid Sciences, will lead the collaboration with CW Labs. Dr. Morse, Director of the Translational Pharmacology Research Core and co-Director of the Drug Development Center at UB, has extensive experience with pharmacologic assay development, designing, implementing and analyzing clinical trials with pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. The collaboration with CW Labs Inc. will create a novel partnership with the Global Cannabinoids Research program at the Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences.
