Note: Since the merger of Onegevity and Thorne to create Thorne HealthTech in 2021, Onegevity's multi-omic platform has been renamed Thorne Health Intelligence. Learn more at Thorne Health Intelligence.

CB2 Therapeutics is a strategic relationship between Thorne, Onegevity Health, and Tetra Bio-Pharma. The mission of this relationship is to leverage the rich potential of the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS) by using powerful multi-omics to become a leader in therapeutic options to manage chronic conditions with currently large unmet medical needs. 

We intend to leverage our collective expertise to exploit safe, natural molecules that act on the ECS for unique applications as drugs and natural products. CB2’s initial targets include functional and inflammatory conditions, such as Interstitial Cystitis and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. 

Understanding the ECS

The science of the ECS is new and it continues to emerge. Acting as a regulatory system that has powerful influence in the nervous system, immune system, digestive system, and more, the ECS holds the potential key to addressing conditions that have eluded therapeutics that act via other body systems.

Because restrictions on the study of cannabis and its active constituents continues to loosen in the United States, Canada, and globally, there has been a surge in companies looking to tap into the market. Most companies, however, are only seeking to make quick and easy sales in the burgeoning consumer market for cannabidiol (CBD) or with recreational/medical marijuana.

Although the industry is heavily focused on exploiting CBD and THC, and creating their synthetic counterparts, we intend to use our collective expertise to develop safe and natural molecules that act on the ECS for unique applications as drugs and natural products.

Many of our candidate compounds do not, in fact, come from cannabis. Their primary attribute is that they primarily target the CB2 receptor, which has numerous health applications with no risk of producing intoxication or euphoria.   

Each company in the strategic relationship brings a unique and valuable expertise

  • Thorne – Thorne is an established global leader in the sales and distribution of evidence-based nutritional supplements for consumer self-care and physician-directed therapies. Thorne contributes extensive scientific expertise and R&D capabilities in natural therapies with more than 30 years of experience in this field. 
  • Onegevity Health – Onegevity is a multi-omic artificial intelligence (AI) platform with the ability to offer a comprehensive molecular portrait of an individual’s health as determined by integrated analysis of longitudinal blood, genetics, and gut microbiome profiles. This data can be used to screen candidate compounds and to cost-effectively conduct clinical trials. 
  • Tetra Bio-Pharma – Tetra has a proven track record in drug and natural product development under federal regulatory regimes in the United States and Canada. They also bring an established pipeline of therapeutics that target the endocannabinoid system to establish an early product footprint.

Traditional drug development has a high failure rate due to lack of rationally-designed R&D pathways. This is especially true in studying therapies for chronic “syndromes” that usually represent more than one etiology. The typical pipeline for drug development is lengthy and costly. The combined expertise in CB2 will more rapidly and accurately identify and screen candidate compounds for specific conditions, and more cost-effectively gather the pre-clinical and clinical data needed to establish efficacy.

The sheer quantity and accuracy of the multi-omic data we can collect will also reduce the risk of failure due to inadequately defined study populations and, in doing so, will more specifically define and identify individuals who can respond to the compounds being developed.  

Our focus on chronic functional and inflammatory conditions will allow CB2, when successful, to benefit the health and well-being of literally millions of individuals who currently lack good therapeutic options.

For example, Interstitial Cystitis, a painful condition of the bladder, affects 2.7-6.5 percent of the female U.S. population – up to 8 million patients. There is only one currently FDA approved pharmaceutical that can take 4-6 months of use to produce relief – if it works at all. 

According to Mayo Clinic, “No simple treatment eliminates the signs and symptoms of interstitial cystitis, and no one treatment works for everyone.” Some patients ultimately resort to surgery to remove the bladder entirely just to relieve daily discomfort. 

Likewise, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders affecting the large intestine, with a worldwide prevalence in 10-15 percent of adults, has few good treatment options.

Sufferers often resort to highly restrictive diets, chronic use of laxatives and/or anti-diarrheal drugs, and combinations of pain medications and anti-depressants as options for relief.

As CB2 is able to develop safe and successful therapies to help these populations, we will positively impact the lives of millions who currently lack targeted, effective treatments. 

Thorne Innovation Labs™ strives to create the world's most innovative solutions for health. Projects generated by this center are radically disruptive in how they push the limits of human potential and redefine what it means to be well.