- Lexaria, a global innovator in drug delivery platforms to enhance bioavailability, announced recently that it will focus on GLP-1 applications for diabetes and weight loss for the 2024 calendar year
- Chris Bunka, Lexaria’s CEO, has expressed his confidence in the company’s direction, reiterating the intention to demonstrate the superior performance of GLP-1 drugs processed with its patented DehydraTECH(TM) technology
- The company looks to build on the success of the early-stage results achieved in 2023, and looks to embark on two human pilot studies, a multi-arm 12-week animal chronic study, a human chronic weight-loss and diabetes study, as well as a multi-month stability testing of DehydraTECH GLP-1
Lexaria Bioscience (NASDAQ: LEXX), a global innovator in drug delivery platforms, recently announced its 2024 R&D plans, with emphasis on GLP-1 investigations. GLP-1 agonists (glucagon-like peptide 1) is a class of drugs used for diabetes and weight loss.
This comes hot on the heels of a successful, active year of R&D in 2023, a year that saw significant strides in developing its patented DehydraTECH(TM) technology including its new foray into GLP-1 drugs. Chris Bunka, Lexaria’s CEO, expressed his confidence and overall optimism in the company’s new direction, reiterating the company’s intention to demonstrate the superior pharmacokinetics and safety/efficacy performance of GLP-1 drugs when formulated and processed with DehydraTECH (https://cnw.fm/5pVk5).
In 2023, DehydraTECH showed positive results in its 8-week study that involved 32 diabetic rodents. The study showed that DehydraTECH-CBD lowered triglyceride levels and body weight differential over the eight weeks, positive results that would also be replicated in its other studies including, but not limited to, hypertension, human hormones, and the overall reduced risk of oral nicotine. This laid the groundwork for Lexaria to explore a new class of molecules it had never worked on before, ultimately quietly launching its top-priority and unpublicized early-stage work program – GLP-1- for weight loss and diabetes control.
In the words of Mr. Bunka, this was a “high-risk program,” mainly because this class of drugs is considered “large molecules,” yet all of Lexaria’s previous investigations were concentrated on “small molecules.” However, by the end of November and early January 2024, the company reported positive interim and final human pilot study results using a single semaglutide dose of a Rybelsus(R) tablet to a matching dose from Rybelsus(R) that had been compound formulated in capsule form using DehydraTECH processing technology enhancements. This was a massive milestone for Lexaria, with Bunka describing the results as “surprising.” Of note was that DehydraTECH processing delivered a statistically-significant higher proportion of the semaglutide and did so more quickly, ultimately having a statistically-significant impact on blood sugar.
GLP-1 drugs have been receiving rising interest recently. Having received FDA approvals as recently as 2021 and 2022, mainly given its health benefits and potential market size, Lexaria understands that this could be the next best thing, hence its focus on this drug class.
“Our R&D plans for 2024 are very tightly focused and will be concentrated mainly on GLP-1 investigations,” noted Mr. Bunka.
“Given the overwhelming interest in the GLP-1 sector, this will be a main focus. We are not at this time planning additional 2024 research in the antiviral, nicotine, or PDE5 sectors. We have solid early-stage data in each of those areas that will allow us to build upon those at the right time,” he added.
Mr. Bunka has reiterated that 2024 will be the year that Lexaria’s hard work will prove its worth. He looks to follow up on the positive early-stage results achieved in 2023, even as it embarks on two human pilot studies, a multi-arm 12-week animal chronic study, a human chronic weight-loss and diabetes study, as well as a multi-month stability testing of DehydraTECH GLP-1. Mr. Bunka is confident that its focus on GLP-1 drugs will yield this outcome.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.LexariaBioscience.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to LEXX are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/LEXX
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