Agreement Reached for Hemp Facility to Support Potential COPD Therapy RespRx

PAO Group and Puration have entered a new agreement that will allow PAO Group to build a proprietary hemp cultivar development facility on Puration’s branded site in Farmersville, Texas, according to a press release.

The new facility is expected to help provide materials to further the development of RespRx, a hemp-derived compound that PAO Group is developing as an investigational treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Hemp is a variety of the cannabis plant, which contains several biologically active molecules. Among the most well-known cannabis compounds are tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). THC is the molecule primarily responsible for the “high” associated with recreational cannabis use. CBD is not psychoactive —that is, it does not induce a “high” — but it has a range of other effects on the body.

RespRx is a CBD formulation produced using a patented cannabis extraction method — U.S. Patent No. 9199960B2, titled “Method And Apparatus For Processing Herbaceous Plant Materials Including the Cannabis Plant.”

PAO Group acquired the rights to RespRx from Kali-Extracts earlier this year.

Preclinical data from a study conducted in a non-human primate model of moderate COPD suggested that RespRx can improve lung function with minimal adverse side effects.

Specifically, two weeks of treatment with RespRx increased respiration rate (the number of breaths taken per minute) by 55%, increased tidal volume (the amount of air that moves in and out of the lungs with each breath) by 38%, and increased inspiratory air flow rate (how quickly air moves into the lungs on an inhale) by 82%.

Similar results also were found with a higher concentration of RespRx.

PAO Group thus believes that RespRx “may have important clinical uses in patients with lung diseases that restrict inspiratory air flow with minimal adverse side effects.”

The new Farmersville cultivar development operation will include a laboratory, as well as an environmentally controlled indoor growing facility. PAO Group is currently working with cultivars to produce an ideal plant for its purposes — meaning one with high-yield CBD.

This will support the continued development of RespRx, as well as other CBD-based therapies.

PAO Group also is exploring opportunities to bring researchers based at universities in partnership with its hemp cultivar development initiative.