Advancing cannabis-based treatment for ovarian cancer
Every year, more than 325,000
women worldwide are
diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
moved in decades
among women
middle-income countries where
Statistics: GLOBOCAN 2022, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO); World Cancer Research Fund; World Ovarian Cancer Coalition.
We’re not talking about symptom management.
We’re talking about treatment of the disease.
Canna Onc Research was founded to investigate the potential for
cannabis to treat ovarian cancer. Our preclinical studies identified a
specific combination of cannabis compounds that kill ovarian cancer cells
and may inhibit tumor growth..
Most cases are caught late.
Current treatments including surgery and platinum-based
chemotherapy are aggressive, often debilitating, and for too
many patients, ultimately insufficient.
When most people hear "cannabis and cancer," they think
about symptom management: nausea, pain, appetite. That's a
real use, and oncologists increasingly recognize it.
Most cases are caught late.
There’s real biology here. It’s time to lean into serious clinical
research on cannabinoids as a treatment for cancer.
HOW WE GOT HERE
This research began with one woman.
Michelle Kendall was an environmental scientist, a fierce and passionate advocate
for science-based solutions to the world’s problems. For most of her career, that
meant protecting ecosystems. When she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, she
turned that same intensity toward a different kind of problem.
She started reading the literature. She talked to researchers, oncologists, and
patients. She saw a gap in the science between what early cannabis research was
suggesting and what anyone was willing to fund and said, “We need to fill this gap.”
So she did. She made a documentary film about the regulatory barriers keeping
cannabis research from reaching patients. She went to conferences and buttonholed
everyone who would listen, asking the same question: Who’s working on ovarian
cancer, and how do we move this forward? And finally, she cashed out her
retirement savings to fund a three-year PhD research program at the Volcani Center
in Israel, one of the world’s leading agricultural research institutions.
This is not one woman’s survival story. This is
one woman’s legacy.
Michelle passed away before the research she funded was complete. But the
work didn’t stop. The results that came back from her investment were more
compelling than anyone anticipated.
Michelle Kendall
Research, Volcani
Center — Israel
Lorem Ipsum
WATCH THE FILM
Schedule 1
A documentary short about cannabis and cancer, told through Michelle's story and the science she set in motion.
“I’m Bruce Kendall. Michelle was my wife. I’m an ecologist by
training, a PhD scientist who has spent thirty years in academic
research. I supported Michelle through her illness, and I supported
her vision for this project. But somewhere along the way, as I started
learning the science myself, I had my own realization.
There’s real biology here. This is not woo-woo, new-
age medicine. We just haven’t done enough science yet.
I came to this work through love. I stay in it because the data
warrants it.”
By 2050, global cases
are projected to reach
nearly 477,000 per
year, with deaths
rising to over 336,000.
Projections: Bray et al., “Global burden of gynaecological cancers in 2022 and projections to 2050,” The
Lancet, 2024; GLOBOCAN 2022 (IARC/WHO).
This research is for every one of those women.
WHAT THE SCIENCE FOUND
What follows is grounded in peer-reviewed, published research. We’re careful
to stay with what the data actually shows: not speculation, not extrapolation.
4 published papers. Real results.
fraction kills ovarian
cancer cells.
Researchers at the Volcani Center
identified a fraction (designated F7) from
a cannabis cultivar containing a precise
combination of THC, CBC, CBG, and
trace amounts of other bioactive
compounds. In laboratory studies, this
fraction induced programmed cell death
(apoptosis) in ovarian cancer cells
through the CB2 cannabinoid receptor.
This is not whole-plant cannabis. It’s a
specific, reproducible combination of
compounds with a specific mechanism of
action.
with existing
chemotherapy.
When combined with niraparib, a PARP
inhibitor already approved for ovarian
cancer treatment, the cannabis fraction
showed synergistic effects. The
combination was more effective at killing
cancer cells than either compound alone.
This suggests a potential role as a
complementary treatment alongside
existing therapies, not a replacement for
them.
cancer pathways
simultaneously.
Gene expression analysis revealed that the
F7 fraction affects several critical cancer
pathways at once, including the Hippo/Wnt
signaling pathway, TGF-β, and MAPK
pathways. In plain language: these
compounds don’t just attack cancer cells
through one mechanism. They interfere
with the signaling systems that cancer
cells use to grow, survive, and resist
treatment.
tumor regrowth.
The research found evidence of anti-
angiogenesis activity and the compounds
appear to inhibit the formation of new
blood vessels that tumors need to grow
and spread. Through disruption of F-actin
structures and focal adhesion pathways,
the F7 fraction may help prevent the kind
of regrowth and metastasis that makes
ovarian cancer so difficult to treat.
Intellectual Property
These discoveries are protected via patents filed by the Volcani Institute. Canna
Onc Research holds an exclusive worldwide license to the specific cannabinoid
compounds and their effects on ovarian cancer. We also hold a non-exclusive
worldwide license to the broader research know-how developed at the Volcani
Center.
WHAT THE SCIENCE FOUND
Bruce Kendall, PhD
Co-Founder, Canna Onc Research
Bruce spent thirty years in academic science: quantitative ecology, population dynamics, and data-driven research to support biodiversity conservation and sustainable fisheries. He has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications. He’s not an oncologist or a pharmacologist, or even an entrepreneur. What
he brings is scientific rigor, intellectual discipline, and a deep commitment to getting this right. He’s just retired from his academic career, which gives him the space to commit fully tostewarding this research to the next stage. That’s what he intends to do.
“My involvement in this project has evolved from supportingMichelle in her passion, to carrying forward her legacy, to asincere belief that cannabinoid oncology has the potential toopen a new frontier in the fight against cancer. At the same time,I’ve become genuinely excited by the science. When Hinanit firstshowed me what we could learn from the gene expression resultsI was, frankly, flabbergasted. Compared to what I’d learned ingrad school 30 years ago, the modern understanding of howgenes map to proteins to biochemical pathways to disease isremarkable! I feel so fortunate to stand upon this treasure troveof knowledge. Linking this detailed understanding of intra-cellular biochemistry with the regulatory feedbacks of theendocannabinoid system across the entire body will be the nextgrand challenge in human biology.”
Co-Founder, Canna Onc Research
Bruce Kendall, PhD
Hinanit is a plant scientist at the Volcani Institute whose careerspans decades of research into traditional herbal medicines andtheir scientific mechanisms. She has long been driven by a singlequestion: can we bring the rigor of modern science to compoundsthat humans have used medicinally for centuries?
She is the author of more than 120 peer-reviewed publicationsand 30 book chapters. She holds 14 international patents. Hinanitremains committed to the ongoing research program andcontinues to advise on the scientific direction of the project.
"For decades, my entire career has been driven by a single,uncompromising question: can we bring the absolute rigor ofmodern molecular science to the plant-based medicineshumanity has relied on for centuries? Canna Onc Research is theculmination of that lifelong pursuit. This isn't just an academicexercise for me; it is my legacy project, born from a foundationaldesire to genuinely help people and ease suffering. I am deeplycommitted to guiding our ongoing research program anddirecting its scientific strategy because we are on the cusp ofsomething highly important, I believe. We are no longer justobserving the potential therapeutic effects of these compounds—we are unlocking their precise mechanisms at the cellular level.To see decades of peer-reviewed theories and internationalpatents finally crystallize into targeted, life-changing science isprofoundly thrilling. This is exactly why I became a scientist, andI believe this work will have a tremendously meaningful impacton human health."
WHERE WE ARE NOW
Drug development follows a well-established path.
Here’s where this research sits:
"Cancer drug development is
incremental. We're not claiming to
end ovarian cancer. We're working to
expand the toolkit that patients and
physicians have to fight it."
--- Bruce Kendall
THE PATH FORWARD
Two routes to bring
this to patients
Build in-house
Build the team and
infrastructure to run trials
directly.
License to a partner
Partner with established pharmaceutical or biotech
companies.
WHERE WE ARE NOW
Let’s Talk
If you’ve read this far, you already understand why this
matters.
The science is published. The intellectual property is
secured. The next steps forward require a broader pool
of expertise and resources than any one person can
bring.
We’re looking for partners, investors, and advisors who
are excited about developing these discoveries into a
treatment for patients.
Do you want to help expand the toolkit for physicians and
patients fighting ovarian cancer?