Cure Pharma to buy cannabinoid pipeline and uplist to NASDAQ

Cure Pharma has signed a term sheet with clinical-stage Therapix Biosciences Ltd. to acquire two preclinical drug candidates and a number of clinical assets for non-pain indications.

According to the terms, Therapix will become a significant shareholder of Cure Pharma’s common stock, and its CEO, Ascher Shmulewitz, will join Cure Pharma’s board of directors. The deal is expected to close in the second half of the year.

Unlike GW Pharmaceuticals’ Epidiolex – which recently became the first cannabis-derived product to receive US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval​ – Therapix’s candidates are made using a synthetic cannabinoid, dronabinol.

According to Therapix, the proposed acquisition will enable it to focus on its core, pain programmes.

Cure Pharma CEO Rob Davidson said an increased pipeline would create value by combining Therapix’s assets with Cure Pharma’s drug delivery technologies and manufacturing capabilities.

“Furthermore, this transaction is a further step in Cure’s efforts toward uplisting to the NASDAQ,” ​he added.

Drug delivery tech​

Cure Pharma has three drug delivery technologies in development: CureFilm oral​, CureFilm transdermal, and CureDots. CureFilm is an oral film, designed to deliver drugs when placed on or under the tongue, or in between the cheek and the gum. CureFilm transdermal comes in the form of a gel or patch.

According to a Cure Pharma spokesperson, the technologies improve drug efficacy and absorption by helping to drive compounds to the central nervous system, and on to receptors.

“We get them [the compounds] there better and faster, so that once they get there they can do their job better,”​ he added.