Lexaria's DehydraTECH Technology Shows Enhanced Brain Delivery of Semaglutide in Preclinical Study

Lexaria Bioscience Corp. announced successful results from its fluorescently tagged semaglutide rodent biodistribution study, which evaluated whether DehydraTECH processing improves semaglutide biodistribution compared to conventional oral formulations. The study found that DehydraTECH-FTS compositions across all tested doses showed higher brain biodistribution trends than Rybelsus® equivalent compositions and controls, with the 5mg DehydraTECH dose achieving higher brain signal intensity than the 15mg Rybelsus equivalent.

Brain sectioning revealed fluorescence in key regions including the brainstem, paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, and circumventricular organs, with all DehydraTECH doses exceeding naïve and vehicle groups, while only the highest Rybelsus dose did so. John Docherty, Lexaria President and CSO, noted that higher brain levels with DehydraTECH-processed ingredients have previously correlated with superior safety and efficacy, and this study provides early evidence through detailed fluorescent imaging that may explain performance benefits observed in human clinical trials.

GLP-1 drug performance is increasingly linked to brain neurochemistry, making brain biodistribution vital. Semaglutide regulates body weight through GLP-1 receptor activation in brain nuclei affecting food intake, reward, and energy expenditure, with rodent studies suggesting GLP-1 analogs can suppress appetite without causing nausea, a common side effect of current therapies. Lexaria's discovery of enhanced brain biodistribution with DehydraTECH could impact both safety and efficacy of current and next-generation GLP-1 drugs.

The findings suggest that DehydraTECH-FTS composition, without Rybelsus excipients, may enable unique delivery enhancements in brain tissue supporting improved pharmacodynamic performance. Future testing might explore complementary benefits by combining DehydraTECH semaglutide with Rybelsus excipients, as previous human pilot studies GLP-1-H24-1 and GLP-1-H24-2 showed marked safety and efficacy improvements with DehydraTECH-processed Rybelsus over Rybelsus alone. Lexaria considers these results encouraging for additional research and industry partnerships aimed at developing safer, more effective GLP-1 drugs.

The preclinical pilot study evaluated biodistribution using non-invasive whole-body imaging and ex vivo organ analysis in Sprague Dawley rats, with semaglutide tagged with a cyanine 7 fluorophore for visualization. Tissues expressing GLP-1 receptors, including brain, pancreas, lung, kidney, liver, and heart, were examined via fluorescent imaging to detect localization patterns. The study involved 25 rats, with test articles including vehicle formulations for DehydraTECH and Rybelsus equivalent compositions, and was conducted by an independent animal research facility, with conclusions based on qualitative visual comparisons due to the pilot nature of the study.