Professor Luis Vitetta, the director of Medical Research at MedLab, a biotech firm based in Australia, has been leading the firm’s research on medical cannabis, microbiome, probiotics for the past seven-and-a-half years.
The firm’s research funds are generated from its sales of nutraceuticals. The eventual goal is to develop pharmaceutical grade medicines, such as medical cannabis.
Prof Vitteta said that the firm’s medical cannabis formulation, known as NanaBis, was shown to be safe and tolerable in a pilot study result.
“It is about to go through a phase 3 clinical trial with three centres in Australia and one in the US, because it will go through the FDA fixed-drug combination pathway.
“As such, it has great promise in managing cancer pain in patients who like to have alternative to opioids,” he told NutraIngredients-Asia.
The firm also recently completed a clinical trial on the use of a probiotic and magnesium orotate formulation, the NRGBiotic, for managing depression.
Prior to joining the industry, Professor Vitetta was the director and associate professor of the Centre for Integrative Clinical and Molecular Medicine at The University of Queensland, School of Medicine.
Born in Argentina, his parents brought him to Australia 57 years ago in pursuit of a brighter future, a move which he greatly thanked his parents for.
Listen to find out more about his life and career.
