PharmaCyte Biotech Inc (PMCB)

[Peacefulwendy]

Great to revisit this recent shareholder update on Cannabanoids since most of us have had Viridis lower on our radar. Today's news brought these studies back to mind...

"Cannabinoids and Cancer
There are numerous examples of useful drugs that have been obtained or developed from plants. For example, the drug quinine, used for many years for the treatment of malaria, was first isolated from the Cinchona tree. The heart disease medication digoxin was derived from the compound digitalis found in the foxglove plant. Useful cancer drugs have also been isolated from plants. These include the vinca alkaloids, vincristine and vinblastine, isolated from the periwinkle plant. Taxol® (paclitaxel), first discovered in the bark of the Pacific yew tree, has come to be used for the treatment of a wide variety of cancers. Importantly, a derivative of paclitaxel known as Abraxane®, in combination with the cancer drug gemcitabine, is now the “gold standard” for the treatment of advanced, inoperable pancreatic cancer. In fact, the gemcitabine plus Abraxane® combination will be compared with Nuvilex’s pancreatic cancer treatment in Nuvilex’s Phase 2b clinical trial of this dreaded disease.
With the well-established history of deriving useful cancer drugs from plant sources, and in an effort to develop a “green” approach to the treatment of cancer, Nuvilex has embarked on a path of research that is designed to capitalize on the medicinal properties of components of Cannabis that are known as cannabinoids. Cannabis and its components have been used in medicine for centuries to treat a wide variety of ailments. Drugs developed from cannabinoids have been approved by drug regulatory authorities to treat medical conditions such as nausea, vomiting and pain for many years. More recently, the scientific literature has become replete with articles that testify to the activity of cannabinoids and cannabinoid-like compounds in the treatment of serious diseases, including cancer.
Nuvilex’s initial plan is to combine the Cell-in-a-Box® encapsulation technology with cannabinoids or cannabinoid-like compounds to develop unique treatments for difficult-to-treat and deadly forms of cancer, such as brain cancer. As with Nuvilex’s use of ifosfamide as the cancer prodrug that must be converted into its cancer-killing form, cannabinoid-based prodrugs will be used with the Cell-in-a-Box® technology in ways that optimize their anticancer properties while minimizing or even eliminating their adverse side effects long associated with chemotherapy.
The research being conducted by Dr. Richard M. Hyslop and other scientists at the University of Northern Colorado under a contract with Nuvilex is progressing well. Through the use of “model” cannabinoids, methods are being developed that will allow the separation and purification of various cannabinoids and cannabinoid-like compounds. In addition, efforts are underway to identify a type of cells that are capable of converting cannabinoid-based prodrugs into their cancer-killing form that will be encapsulated using the Cell-in-a-Box® technology. In the event that a suitable existing type of cell cannot be identified, one will be produced by Austrianova using genetic transformation as was done several years ago to create the cells for Nuvilex’s Phase 2b pancreatic cancer treatment.
Most importantly, Nuvilex recently licensed from Austrianova the exclusive worldwide rights to use the Cell-in-a-Box® technology in combination with cannabinoid and cannabinoid compounds for the development of treatments for diseases and other medical conditions. Nuvilex’s initial efforts to use the Cell-in-a-Box® technology with cannabinoids will be in the area of deadly and difficult-to-treat cancers, such as brain and pancreatic cancer.
Nuvilex has changed the name of its subsidiary Medical Marijuana Sciences, Inc. to Viridis Biotech, Inc. The word “viridis” in Latin means “green.” This name change was made to not only emphasize Nuvilex’s efforts in developing “green” disease treatments, but also to underscore that Nuvilex is not involved in the growth, sales, or distribution of Cannabis or its various products and that Nuvilex is purely a biotech company developing treatments based upon cannabinoids or cannabinoid-like compounds for serious and deadly diseases around the globe.

http://www.pharmacytebiotech.com/shareholder-updates/