Another Cannabis Drug Sans Buzz
An Israeli pharmaceutical company is working on a drug mimicking cannabis' chemical constituents -- cannabinoids -- to offer marijuana's therapeutic benefits without the buzz.
The new type of synthetic cannabinoid is "equivalent to ... the best-quality marijuana," says Dr. George Fink, vice president of research at Pharmos, which presented its new bicyclic dextrocannabinoic compounds at the BIO CEO and Investor conference in New York in February.
The cannabis plant contains over 60 cannabinoids. When you smoke (or eat) pot, the cannabinoids bind to two cannabinoid receptors in the body, called CB1 and CB2. CB1 appears to enhance appetite, reduce pain and ease muscle spasms -- and it is also the receptor that produces the psychotropic effects smokers want.
However, getting stoned is not what the pharmaceutical industry wants for its clients. Pharmos' synthetic cannabinoid shuns CB1 to bind almost exclusively to CB2. So, unfortunately for some, there's no getting wasted. "I wouldn't call the 'high' an adverse side effect," Fink says. "The serious side effects are those which prevent people getting on with their normal work."
What you get instead is CB2, with its own box of tricks: CB2 is expressed by immune and inflammatory cells and acts as an anti-inflammatory. "It shows very good activity in animal models for multiple sclerosis, and also seems to be a good analgesic for pain ... as well as being effective in inflammatory bowel diseases," Fink says.
Read more at wired
