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Vitality Biopharma Inc (OTCMKTS:VBIO) Reborn As A Biotech

Vitality Biopharma Inc (OTCMKTS:VBIO) Reborn As A Biotech
Written by
Aaron Smith
Published on
September 23, 2016
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Prescription painkillers, or opioids, are supposed to help us get back to health. But all too often, opioids, including heroin, kill instead of heal. We've lost many notable people including Elvis Presley (opiate codeine), Prince (Fentanyl/Percocet), Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Heroin/Cocaine), "Glee" actor and singer Cory Monteith (Heroin/Alcohol), Heath Ledger (Oxycontin/Vicodin/Xanax/Valium), Paul Gray, bassist for the metal band SlipKnot (Fentanyl/Morphine), River Phoenix (Morphine/Cocaine), John Belushi (Heroin/Cocaine), Chris Farley (Morphine/Cocaine), Janis Joplin (Heroin), Hank Williams (Morphine/Alcohol), Elvis Presley (Codeine), and even Sigmund Freud (Morphine), among countless others. Vitality Biopharma Inc (OTCMKTS:VBIO) hopes to change that.First up, a little background on the company. Vitality Biopharma Inc was previously known as Stevia First Corp, an early stage agri-bio business focused on the cultivation of stevia. However, over the past few years, the Company made some groundbreaking discoveries which may yield pharmaceutical applications for its glycosylation technology. As a result, they changed the name of the company to “Vitality Biopharma” and refocused the Company on pharmaceutical drug development. Based on the Company’s early efforts, VBIO is one of the few organizations in the world who is able to improve upon the characteristics of stevia and have been able to achieve this at industrial scale. VBIO has filed for key intellectual property related to these technologies and is seeking to commercialize them through joint ventures.On September 12, 2016, Robert Brooke, Company CEO, shed new light on key factors in the fight against the increasing epidemic of prescription painkiller related deaths. In his article, Mr. Brooke notes, "Opiates are one of the key classes of drugs we're seeking to replace, or to make far less necessary, as our proprietary cannabosides could provide a potent alternative form of pain relief and help avoid, or greatly reduce, the use of opiates for the treatment of many conditions including inflammatory bowel disease (where 70% of patients now regularly receive opiates upon hospitalization)."The statistics are startling. Last year there were 47,055 Americans that died from drug overdoses, and opioids were involved in 61% of these cases. Since 2013, the rates of drug-overdose deaths have exceeded the number of deaths from car accidents. This is not uniquely an American problem, but the U.S. uses an astonishing 80% of the world's opioids, while representing only 4.6% of the world's population. The rising death toll has been rivaled in modern history only by that at the peak of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s.VBIO has been able to generate a new library of cannabinoid molecules ("Prodrugs"), including derivatives of all of the most hotly pursued cannabinoids that are currently being investigated as pharmaceutical drugs. Independent clinical trials have shown VBIO’s Prodrugs retain almost all of the benefits of cannabinoids and, furthermore, they can be approved by the FDA at far lower cost and on an accelerated timeline. As aforementioned, while current solutions have “off-target” toxicity effects, VBIO’s proprietary Prodrugs are “targeted,” which means that they may be especially useful for gastrointestinal disorders, as they can enable cannabinoids to be delivered specifically to the large intestine or colon.VBIO does have a significant concern which assumes that it will be able to realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business for the foreseeable future. But, just with any emerging biotech, in the early stages, their future is typically dependent on raising additional monies and eventually attaining and maintaining profitable operations.VBIO’s primary focus at this point is in the approval of drugs for patients with neurological and inflammatory conditions and to present alternatives to current opiate medications. Irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease is a drug market that some analysts have already predicted will reach $9.6 billion in sales in 2017. This restructuring and refocus of the company could send the stock back to and well above the levels it reached in 2012. We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on VBIO, sign up below!Disclosure: We have no position in VBIO and have not been compensated for this article.

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