William Kinney

Chair | Keynote Presenter | Neuropathix, Inc., USA

Title: Improving on Cannabinoids in Nature in Terms of Safety, Specificity, Bioavailability, and Efficacy

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Biography

Dr. Kinney began his industrial career as a medicinal chemist at Wyeth, where he invented the unique NMDA antagonist perzinfotel that progressed to Phase II clinical trials for pain.  At Magainin Pharmaceuticals, he was an inventor of squalamine, a shark-derived natural product that advanced to clinical trials.  In 2000, he joined Johnson & Johnson, where he pursued drug targets for cardiovascular indications.  He is Founder of IteraMed Consulting, a company focused on medicinal chemistry, drug discovery, and small business development. In this capacity he invented KLS-13019 for Kannalife Sciences, a company focused on cannabinoid therapeutics.  Most recently, Dr. Kinney co-founded Enterin Inc., where he is leading the manufacturing of squalamine phosphate for Parkinson’s Disease.  

Abstract

Neuropathic pain remains a challenging neurologic disorder that adversely affects quality of life and presents a large unmet medical need. Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a chronic, severely debilitating consequence of cancer therapy for which there are no effective management strategies. Upwards of 80-97% of CIPN patients reported using prescription opioids for this pain management. Mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and inflammation have all been implicated in CIPN etiology. In a mouse model of paclitaxel-induced pain sensitivity, we have previously reported that cannabidiol (CBD) is effective in preventing the onset of this treatment consequence.  Now a new CBD analogue (KLS-13019) has been discovered in our laboratory that has improved drug-like properties in comparison to CBD, while retaining neuroprotective properties.   Both CBD and KLS-13019 were equi-effective and equi-potent following oral administration. However, in the reversal studies, CBD did not attenuate mechanical sensitivity when administered after CIPN was induced by paclitaxel treatment. KLS-13019 significantly and dose-dependently attenuated tactile sensitivity in the reversal paradigm and was more potent and effective than treatment with morphine. Importantly, KLS-13019 also attenuated the reinforcing properties of morphine in a mouse model of morphine self-administration. In vitro, we have shown that KLS-13019 and CBD protect against paclitaxel-induced oxidative stress in dorsal root ganglia cultures, and that a mechanism underlying this neuroprotection is regulation of intracellular calcium via the mitochondrial Na+/Ca++ exchanger-1 (mNCX-1). Our central hypothesis is that administration of CBD or KLS-13019 preserves Ca2+ homeostasis by promoting activity of the mNCX-1. Furthermore, our new data demonstrates that an additional target is induced following paclitaxel treatment and contributes to sensory neuron toxicity and inflammation that can be reversed by KLS-13019, but not CBD. We predict bi-modal pharmacological effects of KLS-13019 that can both increase viability of sensory neurons exposed to paclitaxel acutely and decrease long-term neuroinflammation.