Cannabics Pharmaceuticals, a company developing a platform that leverages novel drug-screening tools and artificial intelligence to create customized cannabinoid-based cancer therapies, published the final results of a pilot study that could potentially treat a common complication of cancer using the company’s dosage-controlled cannabis capsules in the Journal of Integrative Cancer Therapies, the company announced last week in a statement.

The objective of the study, which was performed at the Rambam Health Care Campus (HCC) Division of Oncology, in Haifa, Israel, and led by Dr. Gil Bar Sela (MD), was to evaluate the effect of of Cannabics’ dosage-controlled capsules for the treatment of cancer anorexia-cachexia syndrome (CACS) in advanced cancer patients

The study was approved by the Ministry of Health Unit for Medical Cannabis and the hospital’s institutional ethics committee.

The study specifically looked at patient weight variation. Patients were older than 18 years old, had “histological evidence of an incurable malignancy” with a weight loss of at least 5 percent during the preceding two months and the belief of the patient that loss of appetite or weight loss was an ongoing problem. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy use was allowed.

The preliminary study demonstrated a weight increase in 10 percent of patients with doses of one capsule of 5mg or 2 capsules (5 mg each) a day, without significant side effects. The results justify a larger study with dosage-controlled cannabis capsules in CACS, the press release said.

“This study is an important milestone in our mission to bring clinically tested products to cancer patients around the world. We always believed that our cannabis-based products have the potential to help support cancer patients as part of their treatment plan, and today we have clinical data indicating we are on the right track,” said Eyal Barad, CEO and co-founder. Based on these results we are now in the process of initiating collaborations with leading international medical institutions to continue and expand our research and commercial activities.

Founded in 2012, Cannabics Pharmaceuticals is a US-based company dedicated to the development of personalized anti-cancer treatments. The company’s R&D is based in Israel, where it is licensed by the Ministry of Health to conduct scientific and clinical research on cancer and cannabinoid formulations.