[When professor of pharmacology Sara Jane] Ward tested CBD’s pain-relieving power in mice, she noticed it wasn’t absorbed well by the digestive system, so less than 10% of the amount consumed shows up in the blood.
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[T]he fatty nature of the CBD molecule might be to blame. After making some chemical additions that changed the molecule to be more compatible with the watery environment in the body, researchers found that mice were able to absorb more than eight times more of the new compound — called KLS-13019 — than CBD and needed only 1/200th of the dose to get the same effect.
Ward suggested that they test the compound’s ability to treat chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN): a burning pins-and-needles-like sensation in the extremities.
In a study published in April, Ward found that KLS-13019 could not only prevent CIPN, but also reverse it in mice receiving paclitaxel — a common CIPN-inducing chemo agent.
