Industry Spotlight: Zynerba Pharmaceuticals
About Zynerba Pharmaceuticals
Zynerba is dedicated to improving the lives of people with rare and near rare neuropsychiatric disorders where there is a high unmet medical need by pioneering the development and commercialization of next-generation pharmaceutically-produced cannabinoid therapeutics formulated for transdermal delivery.
Cannabinoids appear to modulate a number of systems, channels and receptors; as such, they may have the potential to be developed in a number of additional important indications, including anxiety, autism spectrum disorder, neuroprotection, cognitive disorders, sleep disturbance, and treatment for certain neuralgias.
Transdermal delivery has the potential to reduce adverse effects associated with oral dosing because it allows the drug to be absorbed through the skin directly into the bloodstream, avoiding the gastrointestinal tract and lessening the opportunity for GI-related adverse events. It also avoids first-pass liver metabolism, potentially enabling lower dosage levels of active pharmaceutical ingredients with a higher bioavailability and an improved safety profile.
Zynerba’s lead patent-protected product candidate in clinical development is ZYN002. It is the first and only pharmaceutically-produced cannabidiol (CBD) formulated as a permeation-enhanced gel for transdermal delivery. Through a proprietary combination of our pharmaceutically-produced CBD and permeation enhancers, we believe we can effectively deliver CBD through the layers of the epidermis and into the circulatory system.
The company is currently assessing ZYN002 in Fragile X syndrome and certain adult and pediatric refractory epilepsies. These include adult refractory focal epilepsy and developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEE), a heterogeneous group of rare and ultra-rare epilepsy syndromes associated with severe cognitive impairment and behavioral disturbances.
Currently ZYN002 is patent protected through 2030, and the Company continually seeks to augment patent protection and explore other opportunities for exclusivity. For example, the US Food and Drug Administration has granted Zynerba Orphan Drug designation for the use of CBD as treatment for Fragile X, which among other incentives, may provide market exclusivity in the approved indication for a period of seven years.