{"id":195123,"date":"2023-02-15T07:30:24","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T12:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=195123"},"modified":"2023-02-21T12:24:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T17:24:14","slug":"cleaning-up-the-wild-west-of-cbd-uconn-startup-pctrx-revolutionizing-industry-with-novel-polymer-platform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2023\/02\/cleaning-up-the-wild-west-of-cbd-uconn-startup-pctrx-revolutionizing-industry-with-novel-polymer-platform\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleaning up the \u2018Wild West\u2019 of CBD: UConn Startup PCTRx Revolutionizing Industry with Novel Polymer Platform"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a rapidly growing industry. In 2020, just two years after being federally legalized, CBD sales reached $4.6 billion in the U.S.<\/p>\n

CBD is a promising medicinal treatment for a range of human ailments including anxiety, insomnia, wound healing, pain, epilepsy, and more.<\/p>\n

However, there has been a lack of scientific oversight in the development of new CBD products.<\/p>\n

One big issue is that CBD degrades into THC, the psychoactive compound in the cannabis plant, over time with heat. This means when someone buys a commercial CBD product, there could be an unknown level of THC or other unlabeled chemicals in the product, posing serious health and safety risks. CBD can also turn into THC when exposed to acid, like that in the stomach.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s taken off like wildfire,\u201d UConn Professor of Chemistry Gregory Sotzing says. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s happened with not too much science behind it…It\u2019s like the wild west. You have no clue what\u2019s on that shelf.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sotzing invented a CBD polymer that has the potential to create shelf-stable products, biodegradable plastics, and even serve as a drug delivery system.<\/p>\n

Sotzing developed the polymer at UConn. In October 2021, Sotzing and Konstantine Drakonakis, an entrepreneur-in-residence for UConn Technology Commercialization Services<\/a> (TCS) founded Polycannabinoid Therapeutics (PCTRx).<\/p>\n

\u201cI got involved in this because I think it\u2019s going to be a huge disruption in the market, by bringing new medicines forward for the treatment of multiple diseases and helping people,\u201d Drakonakis says. \u201cThere\u2019s an utter lack of transparency and accountability in the cannabinoid market today. If it\u2019s going to survive in a regulatory framework that preserves the ultimate value of these compounds, I think this technology is the thing that is going to enable that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there are many issues and I hope things clean up soon, and I think this polycannabinoid technology can help clean up what I call the \u2018wild west\u2019,\u201d Sotzing says.<\/p>\n

\n

I think there are many issues and I hope things clean up soon, and I think this polycannabinoid technology can help clean up what I call the \u2018wild west\u2019. — Gregory Sotzing<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

PCTRx has now licensed this bundle of technology from UConn. This will provide the company with the ability to pursue applications in the biotech and nutraceutical markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, having a license validates the commercial value of the technology,\u201d TCS Senior Licensing Manager Michael Invernale says. \u201cIt says there\u2019s someone interested in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The polymer Sotzing developed prevents the chemical reaction that turns CBD into THC and other byproducts. By constructing a polymer, a \u201cdaisy chain\u201d of CBD and adipic acid, the molecules needed to create THC when exposed to heat or acid are tied up and cannot react with anything else. This creates a stable CBD product that stays CBD.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe name of the game is to get it there and get it pure,\u201d Sotzing says.<\/p>\n

Sotzing\u2019s lab tested the stability of the compound at up to 320 degrees Celsius (608 degrees Fahrenheit), and it did not produce THC, even when it combusted.<\/p>\n

This polymer also boosts the bioavailability of CBD, which is normally about 8%. This means, normally, only 8% of the CBD goes where and does what it is supposed to. The innovations here permit increased CBD bioavailability, which is another value add in additional to reducing the THC generation.\u00a0 An application on PCTRx\u2019s radar is use of the polymer as a drug delivery system that allows the CBD to bypass the acidic stomach and breakdown in the basic intestines, and then enter directly into the blood stream.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only do you have a polymer you could potentially load drugs into, but the polymer itself is degrading into a drug,\u201d Invernale says.<\/p>\n

This polymer has even more advantages considering it is a natural antioxidant<\/a> that can enter fatty tissue. This allows CBD to protect the body against radical oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS and RNS). Unlike other antioxidants, which interact with ROS and RNS to generate a less reactive version of these molecules, CBD polymers do not generate any new radicals. There are applications for chemotherapy treatments here too, which generate a tremendous number of free radicals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not too hard to picture where a polymeric antioxidant made from renewable resources, all of which are natural materials, could be useful,\u201d Sotzing says.<\/p>\n

These are just a few example use cases. The polymer is a true platform technology with myriad potential applications. By changing the molecular weight and structure of the polymer, it could be used to create biodegradable plastics that would not need to be composted.<\/p>\n

PCTRx is also exploring post-surgical pain applications for this CBD polymer technology since unlike opioids, it is non-addictive. In fact, CBD can help alleviate opioid cravings.<\/p>\n

With this new licensure agreement, PCTRx plans to first investigate the safety, toxicity, and efficacy of their polymer as a CBD drug delivery system. They will focus their initial application efforts on sleep and pain treatments since these are the two most common uses for CBD currently.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith any platform technology, there are so many ways you can go, and we\u2019ll be spending the first year or two really exploring what those options are and who best to partner with,\u201d Drakonakis says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PCTRx is developing its recently licensed polycannabinoid platform technology as a drug delivery system and biodegradable plastics, with an eye toward even more applications<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":195125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,1731,2231,2256,2076,2364,2235],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2277],"class_list":["post-195123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-entrepreneurship","category-health-well-being","category-innovation","category-research","category-technology-commercialization","category-today-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 00:02:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195123"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195393,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195123\/revisions\/195393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/195125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195123"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=195123"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=195123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}