18 September 2020 - - US-based medical cannabis company PAO Group, Inc. (OTC: PAOG) has highlighted recent increased interest in the resurgence of industry wide pharmaceutical research and manufacturing in Puerto Rico, the company said.

PAOG is currently in discussions in to engage a Contract Research Organization in Puerto Rico to advance an Investigational New Drug Application to ultimately achieve Food and Drug Administration approval for PAOG's RespRx as a COPD treatment.

The COPD treatment, RespRx, is derived from a patented cannabis extraction method - US Patent No. 9,199,960 entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING HERBACEOUS PLANT MATERIALS INCLUDING THE CANNABIS PLANT." 

In an initial scientific evaluation as a treatment for COPD, RespRx has demonstrated effecting significant increases in respiration rate, tidal volume and inspiratory air flow rate.

Overall data from the evaluation demonstrated that RespRx can significantly improve inspiratory lung functions in instances of moderate pulmonary fibrosis.

Puerto Rico has a long, vital history in pharmaceutical research and manufacturing that is now the focus of a reboot trend PAOG aims to capitalise upon.

Puerto Rico's pharmaceutical industry took a back seat for a time to an offshoring trend.

The COVID-19 pandemic is adding new motivation to the existing initiative in Puerto Rico to ramp up pharmaceutical industry activity.