Asian equity investor Denning Growth Fund (DGF) has invested US$1.5 million in a pancreatic cancer drug develo ped by Flavocure Biotech Inc, the US-based pharmaceutical company founded by Jamaican scientist Dr Henry Lowe.

Lowe, who is renowned for his cancer and cannabis research, as well as the development of neutraceuticals using Jamaican plants, made the announcement on Tuesday in Maryland, United States.

Pointing out that DGF is controlled by one of Asia’s richest tycoons, Lowe said the equity investor has added Flavocure to its life sciences portfolio.

Flavocure discovers and develops cannabis-derived molecules and generates preliminary data indicating activity against therapeutically validated kinase mutation targets for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

“The potential efficacy of Flavocure’s drug has been validated in a large cohort study completed by Harvard University Medical School,” a Newslife Corp news release quotes Lowe.

“The collaboration has successfully demonstrated the immunoadjuvant activity of our drug, one of the most desirable characteristics for pharmaceutical adoption in cancer therapy today,” he added.

On Wednesday, Lowe told the Jamaica Observer that the non-cannabinoid cannabis drug, which has been isolated, and tested for bioactivity, is “on the way to being the potential magic bullet for the management or cure of pancreatic cancer”.

Flavocure’s Executive Vice Chairman Clark Swanson said that Flavocure’s drug achievements have demonstrated consistent progress towards an addressable market that exceeds US$4 billion.

“The demand is only underscored by the few options that pancreatic cancer patients have today and their poor prognosis,” he said. “The DGF investment is a testament to these milestone achievements and our ongoing successful collaboration with Harvard.”

Earlier this year, Flavocure announced that it has initiated Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling studies for its cannabis-derived drug, FBL-03G. When completed, the studies will provide the company with the requisite data to attain IND status from the Food and Drug Administration in the USA. The effort is expected to be completed this year, following which the company will undertake phase 1 clinical trials initially targeting pancreatic cancer.

Flavocure, which serves customers in the state of Maryland, said that the drug FBL-03G has also shown promise for glioblastoma multiforme also known as ‘GBM’.

The company said that once the drug has attained IND status, it intends to initiate phase 1 studies in patients diagnosed with this deadly form of brain cancer.

Pancreatic cancer begins when abnormal cells in the pancreas grow and divide out of control and form a tumour.

According to World Cancer Research data, pancreatic cancer is the 12th most commonly occurring cancer in men and the 11th most commonly occurring cancer in women. There were 460,000 new cases in 2018.