Biotech Firm Approved by FDA to Study CBD-Based Drug for Opioid Use Disorder

Biotech pharma firm ANANDA Scientific Inc. announced last week that the Food and Drug Administration had approved its Investigational New Drug (IND) application for CBD-based Nantheia ATL5 as a potential treatment for opioid use disorder.

The study will be conducted at the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.

ANANDA’s CEO Sohail R. Zaidi said it is the fourth (IND) approval for the product line and “further reinforces” the company’s vision “of developing CBD as a therapeutic for a number of key indications.”

“This clinical study at UCLA is an important component of our clinical development efforts focused on opioid addiction, where a non-addictive therapy is a significant unmet need.” — Zaidi in a statement

The trial is being funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the firm said in a press release.

According to a summary of the proposal, this research aims to determine the effects and safety of CBD as adjunctive therapy for patients, who have opioid use disorder and are taking buprenorphine + naloxone. The researchers plan to recruit 60 participants from the Tarzana Treatment Center in Los Angeles, California who are currently receiving buprenorphine + naloxone therapy.

The study is planned for about nine weeks.

Edythe London, Ph.D., a distinguished professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, called the research an “important clinical trial” and a “key milestone for … ongoing research into therapeutic alternatives for opioid use disorder and reversal of the effects of the opioid epidemic.”