HU-308 is a drug which acts as a cannabinoid agonist

Agonist

An agonist is a chemical that binds to a receptor of a cell and triggers a response by that cell. Agonists often mimic the action of a naturally occurring substance...

. It is highly selective for the CB₂ receptor

Receptor (biochemistry)

In biochemistry, a receptor is a molecule found on the surface of a cell, which receives specific chemical signals from neighbouring cells or the wider environment within an organism...

 subtype, with a selectivity of over 5000x for CB₂ vs CB₁. The synthesis

Chemical synthesis

In chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions to get a product, or several products. This happens by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions...

 and characterization took place in the laboratory of Prof. Mechoulam

Raphael Mechoulam

Raphael Mechoulam is an Israeli professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel...

 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...

 in the late 1990s. It has analgesic

Analgesic

An analgesic is any member of the group of drugs used to relieve pain . The word analgesic derives from Greek an- and algos ....

 effects, promotes proliferation of neural stem cells, and protects both liver and blood vessel tissues against oxidative stress

Oxidative stress

Oxidative stress represents an imbalance between the production and manifestation of reactive oxygen species and a biological system's ability to readily detoxify the reactive intermediates or to repair the resulting damage...

 via inhibition of TNF-α.