The Incannex Healthcare Limited (ASX: IHL) share price has hit a 5-year high at 29 cents during early trade. The shares have since retreated back to 26 cents, up 18%.
All the excitement comes after the company released an announcement this morning pertaining to an ongoing research program.
Positive results prompting further research
Incannex Healthcare is a pharmaceutical development company utilising medicinal cannabis and psychedelics to generate treatments for a range of disorders and diseases. In today's update, Incannex discussed the positive results of using its proprietary anti-inflammatory IHL-675A in treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
The company's IHL-675A treatment is a combination of cannabidiol 'CBD' and hydroxychloroquine 'HCQ'. As stated in the announcement, the pre-clinical in-vivo (in animal) study showed positive results when used to treat a mouse with a form of inflammatory bowel disease.
Furthermore, this result extends the possibilities of inflammatory treatments from the existing target indications shown for asthma, bronchitis, SAARDS, and COPD. Incannex accordingly highlighted the potential for IHL-675A to become a multi-use medication. The company has initiated its fifth research program following the promising results.
Where to from here for Incannex?
Incannex plans to now expand discussions with research organisations and regulators to press forward with clinical studies and a regulatory strategy. The company expects the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) new drug application pathway will be an available avenue for the inflammatory bowel disease indication.
According to the numbers supplied in the report, the IBD market is expected to reach US$22.4 billion by 2026. This will provide a large opportunity for any developments in the space.
Incannex share price snapshot
The Incannex share price has outperformed the market over the last year, netting shareholders a return of 324%. Most of those returns came about after September when the share price broke out above 7 cents.
Including today's gains, the pharmaceutical developer now has a market capitalisation of $230 million.
