Artelo Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: ARTL) announced that its lead medicinal chemist presented metabolite data for drug candidate ART26.12 at a pharmaceutical conference in London on June 10.

The data comes from plasma samples of healthy volunteers who participated in a single ascending dose clinical study of ART26.12, the company's FABP inhibitor candidate being developed as a non-opioid pain treatment.

According to the company's findings, only three metabolites were detected in plasma samples from volunteers who received a single 900 mg oral dose of ART26.12. Total metabolite exposure represented approximately 7% of overall drug-related exposure, with the parent compound ART26.12 accounting for the majority of circulating drug-related material.

The primary metabolite detected accounted for approximately 5% of total drug-related exposure and demonstrated biological activity comparable to ART26.12, according to the company. All three metabolites identified in humans were previously detected in nonclinical species used in the ART26.12 toxicology program.

"Understanding the metabolic fate of ART26.12 early in clinical development has been an important objective for our team," said Myles Osborn, lead medicinal chemist at Artelo, in the press release.

Andrew Yates, chief scientific officer at Artelo, noted that up to 40% of drug development failures have historically been attributed to pharmacokinetics and ADME properties challenges. The company stated that the absence of human-specific metabolites and low overall metabolite burden with ART26.12 may reduce future development complexity, timelines and costs.

ART26.12 is being developed as a treatment for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. The clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focuses on modulating lipid-signaling pathways to develop treatments for cancer, pain, dermatological and neurological conditions.