Cronos Group Inc., announced today that it has entered into a sponsored research agreement with the Technion Research and Development Foundation of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (“Technion“) to explore the use of cannabinoids and their role in regulating skin health and skin disorders. The preclinical studies will be conducted by Technion over a three-year period and will focus on three skin conditions: acne, psoriasis and skin repair.
The research will be led by Technion faculty members Dr. David “Dedi” Meiri, Head, Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabinoid Research and Dr. Yaron Fuchs, Head, Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabinoid Research, two of the world’s leading researchers in cannabis and skin stem cell research, respectively. Dr. Meiri heads the Laboratory of Cannabis and Cancer Research with vast experience in cannabis and endocannabinoid research. Dr. Fuchs heads the Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine with years of experience in the biology of the skin and its pathologies. Development and implementation of the research will be conducted at Technion’s Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabis Research and the Lorry I. Lokey Interdisciplinary Center of Life Sciences and Engineering in Haifa, Israel.
“We believe that the potential applications of cannabinoids to regulate skin health and treat skin disorders are vast, and we are excited to begin exploring these applications through our partnership with Technion,” said Mike Gorenstein, CEO of Cronos Group. “Using rigorous data to develop efficacious topical and transdermal formulations will be key to creating differentiated products that provide quality treatments to our consumers and strengthen our brand portfolio.”
The endocannabinoid system and the cannabinoids that modulate its activity are believed to have an important role in regulating skin health and skin disorders. The research will utilize Dr. Meiri’s cannabis strain database of over 80 cultivars and Cronos Group’s strain specific cannabis oils to isolate and investigate the effects of individual and combinations of cannabinoids, potentially including rare cannabinoids, for treating acne, psoriasis and wounds using stem cell-derived organoid cultures developed by Dr. Fuchs’ laboratory and mouse models. Cronos Group expects to be able to adapt the individual and combinations of cannabinoids to develop products for each of these three applications and expects to receive an exclusive, worldwide license to market and manufacture such products.
“We are pleased to partner with Cronos Group on this groundbreaking cannabinoid research,” said Dr. Fuchs. “Using our state of the art technology, we hope to unlock the vast therapeutic potential of cannabinoid formulations for treating skin disorders.”
“We are thrilled to begin this joint research with Dr. Meiri and Dr. Fuchs, who are among the most respected researchers in their fields,” said David Hsu, COO of Cronos Group. “Dr. Meiri’s extensive cannabis strain database and capabilities in analytical testing provide a strong foundation for researching Dr. Fuch’s world-renowned stem cell organoids. Dr. Meiri and Dr. Fuchs’ expertise coupled with Cronos Group’s competencies in the cannabis industry make us optimistic about the future opportunities from this collaboration.”
