Cardiol Therapeutics recently announced positive data in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC). The publication highlighted that the use of CRD-38 (cannabidiol) improved cardiac function and reduced cardiac hypertrophy, remodelling, inflammation and cell death.
The ageing global population and the prolongation of the lives of cardiac patients by modern therapeutic innovations have led to an increased prevalence of heart failure (HF). Moreover, diseases such as hypertension, obesity and diabetes greatly increase the risk for HF. This illustrates how vital, and potentially lucrative, the HF arena is for drug discovery. GlobalData believes that CRD-38 potentially fills an unmet need in the HF space as it has an alternate mechanism of action to currently marketed therapies.
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CRD-38 acts as an agonist to cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2. The cannabidiol moiety of the drug shows anti-inflammatory activity and the organic nitrates exhibit a direct relaxant effect on vascular smooth muscles, which leads to dilation of coronary vessels, improves oxygen supply to the myocardium and elicits therapeutic activity. The journal included results from multiple models of HF. In a mouse model of HF, subcutaneous administration of CRD-38 resulted in reduced cardiac fibrosis and hypertrophy, and improved ejection fraction and cardiac output.
The data emphasised an important rationale for the development of CRD-38 as a novel approach to the treatment of HF. Key opinion leaders interviewed by GlobalData have emphasised that physicians would be more open to subcutaneous therapies because they are not looking to add another pill to patients’ treatment regimens.
HF is a clinical syndrome where the heart is unable to meet the demands of the body with a sufficient blood supply. This can be due to structural or functional cardiac abnormalities, which can be caused by unexpected injury such as myocardial infarction, or an underlying pathogenesis such as hypertension.
Cardiol is a clinical-stage life sciences company that focuses on the research and development of anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory therapies for the treatment of heart diseases. Cardiol is headquartered in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. According to GlobalData’s Pharma Intelligence Center Drug Database, Cardiol has one other drug in active development: CardiolRx (cannabidiol 1) in Phase II for multiple indications.
