The first round of clinical trial testing for one of Medlab’s two cannabis mouth sprays is complete, with the company’s NanaBis drug successfully passing safety and tolerability trials.

NanaBis is designed as a complementary or replacement treatment for opioids in advanced cancer pain, and Medlab (ASX:MDC) told investors this morning that it had successfully completed the first stage of a Phase 1 clinical trial at Royal North Shore Hospital.

Clinical trials are generally divided into three phases. Phase 1 focuses on safety, Phase 2 tests for effectiveness and Phase 3 examines whether the new drug is an improvement on existing treatment.

The Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), which assesses data from trials, recommended NanaBis progress to the second stage of the trial after results revealed the drug was safe and showed signs of helping cancer patients with pain reduction.

NanaBis is administered through Medlab’s drug delivery platform known as NanoCelle, which delivers medicine as tiny particles in a spray to the buccal membrane, or the inside lining of the cheek. Its aim is to make it easier to deliver medicine as well as increase the speed and rate of absorption into the bloodstream.

Its other cannabis mouth spray is NanaBidial, for cancer-induced nausea and seizures.

NanaBis is currently available under the TGA Special Access Scheme.

Medlab recently scored an export licence for medicinal cannabis.

The company’s shares were flat on the news at 35c.

Medlab shares (ASX:MDC) over the past year.