Vitality Biopharma Inc (OTCMKTS:VBIO) Now Has Proof Of Concept For Cannabis Prodrugs

Vitality Biopharma Inc (OTCMKTS:VBIO) is picking up some speculative volume right now, on the back of some news relating to its proprietary THC pharmaceutical. A lot has been said, released and published about various cannabis and cannabidiol formulations over the last six months or so, with the recreational cannabis legalization ballots seemingly drawing untold numbers of companies into the sector. With so much being said, it's tough to really ascertain what some of these companies are actually working on.Here's an attempt to serve up some clarity to what Vitality is trying to do, and what it might mean for the company going forward.So, for those new to Vitality, we covered this one before back at the end of last year, so it's well worth skipping back to our previous coverage for a bit of background. Readers wanting to take a look can do so here.For those not wanting to click away, however, the company used to be known as Stevia First, and has essentially retooled a technology that it was originally targeting at the stevia plant to now target cannabis compounds. As we've said previously, the actual technology is pretty under wraps – the company (perhaps understandably) hasn’t been that forthcoming with how it works, and what it does. What we do know, however, is the output when it's applied to cannabis compounds, and that's what we're basing our thesis on. Specifically, it's designed produce a prodrug version of cannabidiol. The idea behind is pretty simple. Most cannabis therapies need to be low dose right now, as the THC is the plant produces the psychoactive effects that the plant is famous for recreationally. A prodrug is a type of drug that only becomes active at the site at which it is targeted to do its work.The best analogy here is a cancer drug. Chemotherapy is very toxic, and as such, is limited in dose by said toxicity. Cancer prodrugs are designed to make chemo agents only become active at the site of the tumor, limiting their impact on other parts of the body. This allows for an increased dosage (while maintaining a limited toxicity) and – in turn – an improved efficacy in destroying the cancer cells that are the drug's primary target.Vitality is trying to do this with cannabis treatments, but instead of reducing chemical toxicity on healthy cells, the company is trying to reduce psychoactive impact on the central nervous system.Vitality set up a facility at the end of last year, and subsequently had that facility approved for medicinal cannabis testing by the relevant authorities.The latest announcement refers to the research that has been going on in this facility, and has confirmed that Vitality has been able to produce (and successfully test) a drug that works in this prodrug fashion. That is, it enables site-specific targeting of the THC in various tissues of the body, where it can exert therapeutic effects for treatment of pain and inflammation, without bringing about the psychoactive side effects associated with the plant and its compounds.That's a big step, and one that we think is going to play into Vitality's favor in the coming quarters. As Robert Brooke, CEO of Vitality, says:

"It is THC without the high and could be a game changer."

So what's next?Well, the drug is proof of concept right now, and that's it. In order to get this type of cannabis based prodrug treatment to market, Vitality is going to have to push it through a notoriously difficult clinical development pathway, and this is going to be both costly and drawn out.That said, it paints the potential for a host of in house development catalysts over the coming quarters, and also opens up the opportunity for a licensing of the library of compounds that the company's prop tech has created to other players looking to incorporate this now-proven concept into their own development pipeline. We will watching for these catalysts.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. We have previously been compensated by a third party for a two day awareness campaign on VBIO.