Canadian CANNAINVESTOR Magazine November 2017 | Page 53

Beleave and Dr. Michael Rogers Begin Research in Cannabis Food and Drug Delivery
Toronto, ON – October 24 th , 2017 - Beleave Inc. (“Beleave”) (CSE: BE; OTCQX: BLEVF) is pleased to
announce that it will begin a research program with Dr. Michael Rogers to develop and characterize the
bioavailability of novel cannabinoid food and drug delivery systems for oral administration using lipid-
based nano-systems. Dr. Rogers is an Associate Professor in the Department of Food Sciences at the
University of Guelph, and the holder of a Canada Research Chair in Food Nanotechnology.
The goal of the program will be the development of proprietary cannabinoid food and drug delivery
systems with optimized bioavailability and shelf-life properties compared to currently available cannabis
products. Drug development will be geared towards the current medicinal cannabis market, while food
development will be geared towards the upcoming adult recreational market.
“Development of novel cannabis formulations with optimized bioavailability will be a tremendous benefit
to the medicinal cannabis market, as well as pre-emptively provide valuable technologies for the
upcoming recreational market,” commented Beleave Chief Science Officer, Dr. Roger Ferreira.
Principle Investigator Dr. Rogers will be joined by a research team including Dr. Paul Spagnuolo, Associate
Professor in the Department of Food Sciences at the University of Guelph, and Dr. Peter Chen, a post-
doctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo, School of Pharmacy. The work will involve the use of the
TIM-1, an in vitro gastrointestinal digestion model which simulates the human stomach, duodenum,
jejunum, and ileum in order to study stability and bioavailability events after oral ingestion. This will
greatly accelerate the ability to assess the oral bioavailability of novel cannabinoid food and drugs, as well
as drastically reducing costs associated with bioavailability studies in humans or animals.
“This unique collaboration brings together scientists from across disciplines to take a bottom-up,
fundamental approach to developing novel vehicles for delivery of cannabis products, creating the best
possible products for both the medicinal and recreational markets,” states Dr. Rogers.
Assessing for bioavailability can pose serious challenges, as human or animal subjects are required and
plasma samples must be drawn. The TIM-1 simulated in vitro gastrointestinal digestion model was
developed by TNO in the Netherlands, and is currently being used by only four laboratories in Canada.
This advanced dissolution model has high correlation to in vivo testing and has been validated for use in
drug delivery (See PubMed).
Novel cannabinoid formulations will be assessed for bioavailability in a quick and cost-effective manner
without the need for ethical approval as in when dealing with human or animal test subjects. This will
allow rapid assessments of formulations and significantly increase the rate of innovation and discovery
into enhancing oral bioavailability of cannabinoids. This research coupling novel cannabis food and drug
delivery systems with the TIM-1 will be the first-of-its-kind.
About Beleave
Beleave Inc. is a biotech company and Beleave's wholly-owned subsidiary Beleave Kannabis Corp.
(formerly First Access Medical Inc.) is a licensed producer pursuant to the ACMPR. Beleave's purpose-built
facility is located near Hamilton, Ontario.
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