Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies Holdings PLC (LON:OCTP) agreed a partnership to accelerate the development of its drugs candidate pipeline.
The company will work with drug discovery and development company Evotec on the development of OCTP’s lead compound, OCT461201, a selective cannabinoid receptor type-2 agonist, towards Phase 1 clinical trials.
This phase of the clinical trial is aimed at demonstrating the safety and tolerabililty of the drug product in order to clear the drug for its first in-human clinical studies.
OCT461201 will enter Evotec’s INDiGO programme, an integrated drug development process for accelerating early drug candidates to clinical trial stage that has an anticipated duration of approximately 12 months.
Evotec will also manufacture and formulate the OCT461201 drug product for use in clinical studies.
Dr John Lucas, chief executive of OCTP, said: “We are very excited to enter this partnership with Evotec and progress our drugs candidate pipeline to the next stage. The directors are focussed on delivering on the development timeline we set out in our prospectus, and signing this agreement keeps the company firmly on that path.
He added that Evotec's broad range of integrated capabilities across the R&D process will power OCTP's cannabinoid discovery engine, with the aim of limiting the risk of delays and enabling successful progression.
“Specifically, this service agreement will help accelerate our lead compound, OCT461201, towards first in-human clinical trials and, ultimately to patients, to provide a much-needed safe and effective pain treatment.”