Cannabis Space Continues To Shine As Latest IPO Therapix BioSciences (TRPX) Oversubscribed

PEA is probably new to many investors in this space. It’s a fatty acid amide, and it has affinity for a couple of cannabinoid like receptors called GPR55 and GPR119, but it doesn’t bind to receptors CB2 and CB2, which are the primary receptors that make up the endocannabinoid system. Because of this latter point, it can’t be called an endocannabinoid, but for all intents and purposes (and when combined with dronabinol to produce the Entourage Effect) it has the same impact as a cannabinoid might on the body.

So, the idea is that by combining PEA and dronabinol, and applying this combination to a therapeutic indication, a company can either bring a drug to market that requires less THC than current standard of care THC-based therapies need to be effective (because the Entourage Effect enhances the effect of the THC that is there) or can bring a THC drug to market in an indication in which THC cannot currently be used, because it lacks the potency necessary to have an impact.

And that’s what Therapix BioSciences (NASDAQ:TRPX) is doing.

The company has a few programs ongoing, and has plans to apply this concept to everything from Alzheimer’s disease to pain management and oncology, but the lead indication right now, and the one on which the majority of Therapix’s valuation rests, is a Tourette’s Syndrome program.

Many reading will likely already be familiar with Tourette’s, as it has a bit of a pop culture status. It’s actually a relatively common neuropsychiatric disorder (though still an Orphan indication) that generally onsets in childhood, and is characterized by tics – twitching, involuntary movement, shouting, cursing, blinking, that sort of thing. There are a couple of treatments on the market right now, but they are rarely used because the side effects associated with them outweigh the benefits of eased symptoms.

With its TSO1 asset, Therapix is trying to bring these benefits more to the point where they outweigh the associated side effects.

Which brings us to one of the most attractive features of this approach, and by proxy, Therapix itself.

There exists plenty of evidence (1) to suggest that cannabis and THC are effective in the treatment of Tourette’s. However, not all Tourette’s sufferers want to have to experience the cognitive alteration brought about by smoking cannabis, or through eating cannabis laced food, and so they aren’t able to medicate their condition. Therapix is taking this evidence, and using it to create a platform from which it can create a drug that falls in line with the first of the two above described benefits of this approach – create a drug that doesn’t require as much psychoactive compound as would otherwise be necessary, because the psychoactive compound, in this instance the THC, is amplified in impact without the associated high by the Entourage Effect caused by the PEA.

So that’s the program, and where is it in terms of timeline?

This brings us to another attractive feature of this company’s approach. Because Therapix is using dronabinol and PEA, it’s basically just repurposing old already-approved drugs. These ‘old drugs’ are drugs that are already recognized as safe, and this dramatically reduces the cost and time associated with bringing one of these repurposed assets to market. Take the drug in question, TS01, for example. Because it’s based on dronabinol, Therapix BioSciences (NASDAQ:TRPX) can completely skip Phase I testing altogether, and only needs to conduct a phase IIa study before carrying the drug forward into a pivotal phase IIb/III.