Island Abby currently markets honey drops for sweetening tea or as a sore throat lozenge. (Kevin Yarr/CBC)

A honey lozenge company on P.E.I. could be on the verge of an entirely new market as it is tested as the delivery mechanism for a promising new treatment for tuberculosis.

Island Abbey makes Honibe lozenges, a solid form of pure honey that it markets for two purposes: as a sore throat lozenge, and as a sweetener for hot drinks such as tea. Recently the company was approached with an entirely new application for the product.

Immunoxel is a liquid-based extract from 25 different plants, patented by the U.S.-based company Immunitor in partnership with the Ukrainian company Ekomed, that's been sold in the Ukraine for 15 years. It's used to treat cold and flu, and is currently being sold in seven countries.

It was discovered accidentally that Immunoxel may also help with tuberculosis, after it was given to patients at a TB hospital there.

More than a dozen small clinical trials were done in the Ukraine. Immunoxel was tested in combination with regular drug treatments, and the trials showed sputum tests of patients come back clear of TB bacteria more quickly when Immunoxel was part of the treatment.

Medicine delivery could become a big part of what Island Abbey honey drops do, says CEO John Rowe. (CBC)

Allen Bain, a Charlottetown-based director at Immunitor, is excited by the prospects.

"I can analyze those small trials and say 'Hey, wait a minute, this is very, very solid data,'" said Bain.

World Health Organization statistics from 2010 show nearly nine million people have TB worldwide, the majority of them in Asia and Africa. The highly contagious lung infection is the second leading cause of death from infectious disease in the world.

While the existing data for Immunoxel looks good, Bain would like to conduct a larger clinical trial on the product.

And there is another challenge. The current product is sold in an alcohol-based liquid that's difficult to ship and has a shorter shelf life than Bain would like. Bain is also concerned about the difficulty of dosing, because it has to be mixed with drinking water.

Immunitor wanted to develop a dry delivery system, one with a longer shelf life and that would make it easier to ensure people were getting the proper dose.

Immunitor tested four dry forms: two sugar candy varieties, a chewy form, and Island Abbey's honey-based lozenges. The Honibe lozenges were the most successful. All 18 patients who tested the Immunoxel in Honibe lozenges showed clear sputum tests after one month, and with the other pill forms only cleared 77 to 80 per cent of the patients.

The only drawback is Honibe's lozenges are more expensive. Honey is typically four to five times more expensive than sugar, but the advantages outweigh the cost, and Bain said the honey lozenges are the format Immunitor has decided to go with in future trials.

Island Abbey founder and CEO John Rowe said the significance for his company goes beyond Immunoxel. Other manufacturers are now approaching him about using honey lozenges to deliver medicine.

"This is something that is actually becoming a very big part of what we do," said Rowe.

Approval for Immunitor's large clinical trial is still pending.