Medical technology manufacturer Valeritas Holdings, Inc. announced on Tuesday positive results from a pre-clinical pharmacokinetic (PK) study involving the subcutaneous delivery of cannabidiol (CBD) using the company’s proprietary h-Patch device.
The h-Patch is a wearable, disposable drug delivery device that is designed to deliver injectable medicines into the fatty subcutaneous tissue beneath the dermis layer of skin.
For the study, the h-Patch was used to deliver two CBD regimens, 40mg and 76mg, over 24-hours with PK evaluated at various time points out to 48 hours from the start of infusion.
Both dosages showed rapid absorption and distribution with detectable levels of CBD showing in blood one hour after the beginning of the infusion.
“This study highlights Valeritas’ partnering opportunities to leverage the h-Patch technology beyond insulin delivery,” said Valeritas President and CEO John Timberlake in a statement. “Subcutaneous infusion is a powerful delivery method for a variety of drugs with solubility, permeability, and first-pass metabolism challenges, and the h-Patch may offer a cost-effective alternative means of reliable and patient-friendly drug dosing.”
According to Valeritas, orally-delivered CBD solutions have a low bioavailability which ranges from 6-10 percent.
Valeritas believes that subcutaneous CBD delivery could hold multiple advantages over oral dosing, including prolonged half-life, minimization of variation in CBD metabolism in the general population, and the ability to achieve therapeutic concentrations with smaller doses—features which could lead to more reliable, uniform dosing.
