THERAPEUTIC FOCUS

We are focused on providing emergency treatment for cannabis poisoning in children – a vulnerable population that suffers much more serious outcomes than adults.

  • Children exposed acutely to cannabis can present to the Emergency Department (ED) with serious and life-threatening CNS depression, respiratory depression, seizures and coma.

  • These effects potentially lead to prolonged hospitalization, ICU admission, invasive diagnostic procedure, and mechanical ventilation.

  • There are no approved treatments for this condition.

The urgent need for a reversal agent is growing with expanded cannabis use, readily available edible forms that appeal to kids, greater potency, and recent policy changes that will further drive access.

In contrast to kids, adults exposed acutely to cannabis toxicity usually present with CNS excitation, including anxiety, agitation, tachycardia, and in some cases psychosis. This is essentially the polar opposite of the effect in young kids. This different more dangerous response to cannabis toxicity in children is due to developmental differences in cannabis receptor expression and localization, immature metabolism, smaller body size, and greater susceptibility to severe outcomes. The company is focused entirely on the unique pediatric condition, “acute cannabis-induced CNS depression in pediatric patients”, which is primarily caused by unintentional cannabis ingestion.