COVID

Research Analysis by: Dr. Trish Hurford, MD, MS & Cindy Northcutt, RN, BSN, JD Co-Chairs,

MoCannTrade Health, Education & Training Committee  

Researchers from Oregon State University and the Oregon Health & Science University reported this month that CBDA and CBGA inhibited the reproduction and spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. These products come from the raw cannabis plant. Could there be even more to the cannabis plant and its effects on health? The answer is, maybe. 

What we know: Our cells have an innate antiviral ability. When a virus is present in our bodies, our immune system notices and responds, limiting the virus’s entry into our cells and its replication. This innate process should lead to a controlled cell death (called apoptosis) of the infected cells, thereby stopping or slowing infections. Unfortunately, our immune systems have weakly responded to the COVID-19 coronavirus in this way, leading to high infection rates and mortality.  

What the researchers found: When CBDA and CBGA were combined with the COVID-19 viral proteins, they were better able to activate the immune system, leading to apoptosis. The researcher also found that CBDA helped “prime” the body to better respond to the virus even before exposure without harming normal cells. This suggests that CBD may have a role in SARS-CoV-2 prevention.  

Notably, the research was performed in vitro, meaning in a petri dish and not on humans (in vivo). The doses of CBDA and CBGA delivered were high but achievable for human consumption at non-toxic doses. Further work is needed to determine how the virus/CBD combination is altered when CBD is present and at what dose. 

This week, another study funded by the National Institutes of Health and the University of Chicago was published in Science Advances journal that looked at CBD’s effect on live cells, or in vivo. These researchers found that CBD and its metabolite 7-OH-CBD, could potentially block the SARS-CoV-2 virus from replicating in the lungs of infected mice, representing a possible therapeutic treatment once people are infected with the virus.  

This study also reported that a review of SARS-Co-V-2 infection rates in over 1000 patients treated with high quality CBD for epilepsy (tracked by the National COVID Cohort Collaborative) found that these patients, who were given CBD twice daily in an oral solution of 100 mg/ml, were more likely to test negative for COVID-19 compared to their counterparts who recorded no use of CBD. 

In summary:   More clinical trials, particularly in vivo, are needed. Patients should not forgo currently accepted treatments for COVID-19/ SARS-CoV-2 based on the findings above. But this data should spur more studies. Future research may provide data to support an excellent and markedly safe option to treat and prevent COVID-19 and other viral infections using the cannabis plant.  

Cannabinoids Block Cellular Entry of SARS-CoV‐2 and the Emerging Variants 

Richard B. van Breemen,* Ruth N. Muchiri, Timothy A. Bates, Jules B. Weinstein, Hans C. Leier, Scotland, Farley, and Fikadu G. Tafesse 

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jnatprod.1c00946 

Cannabidiol inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication through induction of the host ER stress and innate immune response 

Long Chi Nguyen, et. al. 

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abi6110 

MoCannTrade's Health Education & Training committee researches & defines best practices with stakeholders (healthcare systems, physicians, providers and patients) to ensure a safe, responsible and successful medical cannabis program implementation. The healthcare committee also works to accomplish education and training, sensible regulatory development, CME credit seminars, thought leadership, speaking engagements and patient advocacy.