Vectura to provide preclinical support for Incannex's inhaled brain injury treatment

IHL-216A may make sports safer and reduce the morbidity and mortality rates of people suffering serious head traumas

Incannex Healthcare, an Australian cannabinoid medicines development company, has contracted inhalation-focused CDMO Vectura, to provide preclinical development services for its proprietary inhaled drug product IHL-216A.

Together, the companies aim to advance the development of IHL-216A for the treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI), a condition for which there are no approved pharmaceutical agents.

IHL-216A combines cannabidiol (CBD) with isoflurane, an anaesthetic — a combination that Incannex has previously found works synergistically to reduce neuronal damage, neuroinflammation and behavioural deficits resulting from TBI.

From its Chippenham, UK, facility, Vectura will undertake formulation screening studies, manufacturing process optimisation studies and stability assessments, as well as manufacturing a laboratory-scale batch of IHL-216A to support toxicological studies.

Incannex has partnered with the Monash Trauma Group at Monash University’s Department of Neuroscience in Australia to conduct an extensive in vivo study on the protective effect of IHL-216A in sports concussion, based on a model of TBI developed in collaboration with the US National Football League (NFL).

Vectura will further develop and progress the IHL-216A formulation in parallel with the in vivo experiments based on the NFL model, ahead of clinical trials.

“The in vivo study we have developed offers the opportunity to accelerate this programme through to clinical development," said Mark Bleackley, Chief Scientific Officer, Incannex.