Here's What The INMED PHARMACEUTIC COM NPV (OTCMKTS:IMLFF) Animal Studies Mean

Back in May, we published this piece detailing the operations of INMED PHARMACEUTIC COM NPV (OTCMKTS:IMLFF). The article covered the company's efforts to standardize and improve on the current production methods used in cannabidiol cultivation and harvesting and how this played into InMed's potential positioning in the cannabis biotechnology space going forward.For those that missed the coverage, it's well worth a read. The company is trying to use E. coli cells to create mass producible cannabinoids – much akin to the way we mass produce insulin today. Our argument was that, if successful, there's some real room for growth for InMed in this particular crossover of the biotechnology and cannabis sectors. Cannabinoids are hard to harvest and even more difficult to reproduce consistently. There are many outside of the most well known, THC and CBD, but they are just not viable from a mass production perspective and this makes investigating their impact on various medical conditions worthless. If InMed can make these cannabinoids accessible, it could open up a whole new wave of treatment types. The company is concurrently developing a database that classifies said cannabinoids according to their type and potential application in terms f target indication. Combine the two technologies (cultivation and a matching database) and, again, this could totally change the way we use cannabis in a medical setting.That's a long game, however. A potentially rewarding one, sure, but it's not going to drive any real dollar revenues anytime soon.A much shorter game is the company's efforts to bring a CBD based treatment to market that targets muscle pain and – specifically – does so through topical administration. This one's still in the early stages of development, but once things get moving, the development pathway alone should bring with it catalysts that drive upside revaluation as and when they hit.Last time we covered this one, we said this (in answer to what we are looking for next):

"… management expects to confirm the MOA in animal studies during the third quarter of 2017."

At the end of July, we got exactly what we were looking for. Take a look at this release and this journal piece. The publication details an investigation into the efficacy of peripheral application THC in female rats, with a focus on how the muscle that underwent dosing responds to treatment against a backdrop of how the rat responds from a behavioral perspective. There's no need to go into the study in too much detail here, anyone wanting to check the science should take a look at the above link (again, here). What we will say, however, is that in this study, which was designed to mimic the symptoms of myofascial temporomandibular disorders (a chronic pain in the sensitive parts of muscles) and do so while monitoring whether the THC had any impact from a behavioral perspective on the rat receiving the drug, demonstrated a strong degree of potential.Here's the "Significance" remarks, taken directly from the study:

"Our results suggest THC could reduce masticatory muscle pain through activating peripheral CB1 receptors. Peripheral application of cannabinoids could be a novel approach to provide analgesic relief without central side effects."

So this means that the company was able to show that this sort of compound can activate receptors on the peripheral system (not the CNS, that's important) and in doing so can help reduce or minimize muscle pain. The fact that it's not acting on the CNS is important because its the receptors in the CNS that are activated when cannabis consumption translates to neurological alterations.In other words, what InMed was trying to do here is show that it could relieve pain using cannabis compounds without inducing the mind altering state commonly associated with consumption – and it was able to show just that.So what's next?We will no doubt see more of these pain models before advancing into the clinic, so don't expect a human trial right away. With that said, each one of these models that comes out as supportive of the hypothesis strengthens the company's chances when it does head into a clinical setting and – as a result – each time we get news like this it's an opportunity to load up while markets are looking the other way.The company picked up around $5.75 million a few months ago so that removes any immediate dilution risk, but we will probably see another raise before the end of the year.Check out our previous coverage of this one here. We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on IMLFF, sign up below!Image courtesy of Sasha The OK Photographer via FlickrDisclosure: We have no position in IMLFF and have not been compensated for this article.