Biotech Stock Up 43% on Cannabis Expansion

Revive Therapeutics’ (TSXV:RVV,OTCQB:RVVTF) stocks jumped by 43 percent on Thursday after the company announced that it is expanding its product pipeline by developing cannabinoid-based therapeutics specifically for liver diseases. Over the last five trading days, the stock is up by 60 percent.

Novel therapies for serious and unmet needs

Revive’s core business is on the research and development of treatments for medical needs that are “serious and unmet.” Included in its current clinical pipeline are therapies for kidney stones and gout.
A research note by BioNap stated that Revive’s entry into cannabinoid research, “is not a big stretch for Revive.” In fact, the company recently announced the initiation of Phase 2 of its clinical study for REV-004 or Bucillamine, for the treatment of cystinuria, a rare genetic disorder resulting in kidney stone formation.
Revive prides itself in its “bioinformatics platform” that was designed, “to identify repurposed and innovative drug treatments.” A number of repurposed drug and plant-derived candidates have already been identified using this platform, including cannabinoids. The company’s focus is now on cannabis-derived or cannabis-related drug candidates, stating that “[W]e believe this strategy offers the potential for development of highly differentiated drug candidates that are superior to current standards of care, as well as new intellectual property through the combination of repurposed drug candidates and cannabis-related drug candidates.” Revive also stated in their presentation that the company has identified diseases that may benefit from cannabinoid-based therapeutics.

Cannabis therapy for liver diseases

No details have been given on what specific liver disease the company is targeting, although Craig Leon, CEO of Revive said that the company has identified “potential cannabinoid-based lead opportunities in a number of liver diseases.”
Dr. Pritesh Kumar, Scientific Advisor for the Company, offered little detail as well but did state that, “we will be investigating in several pre-clinical research models.”

Liver disease market and cannabinoid opportunities

This is not the first time a biotech or pharmaceutical company has expanded into the cannabis space. Currently, there are three cannabinoid products approved in the US or Europe: Sativex by GW Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:GWPH), Marinol by AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV), and Cesamet by Meda Pharmaceuticals.
The global liver disease treatment market was valued at US $7,498 million in 2014, with an estimated growth over US $1,2095.0 million by 2022 due to a growing geriatric population, as well as rising liver ailments.
On the other hand, the cannabis industry has only begun its rise to an estimated $21.8 billion by 2020. 2016 saw huge strides as legalization both in Canada and the US made headlines. More importantly, the cannabis business will only grow even further in the coming year alone.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Pia Rivera, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.