CBD drug could treat opioid addiction

Ananda is launching a clinical trial to use Nantheia ATL5, a drug with a high dose of CBD, to treat people addicted to opioids. The Colorado-based biotech has just received the green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US health authority. The clinical trial will be conducted by UCLA University in California.

Nantheia ATL5 is a capsule containing 100mg of CBD. It could be used to replace opioids in the treatment of chronic pain. If the clinical trial is successful, this drug could then join Epidiolex. To date, GW Pharma's liquid solution is the only CBD-based medication available on the market. authorized in both the United States and the European Union.

«The authorization to conduct a clinical trial further strengthens our goal of developing CBD as a therapy for several diseases.», welcomes Sohail Zaidi, CEO of Ananda. For her part, psychiatrist Edith London, who will be leading the trial, hails a "major step forward". «A key step in finding a solution to the opioid crisis.

Opioids kill 50,000 people a year in the United States

The situation is indeed particularly serious. This class of drugs - like Fentanyl or Oxycodone - mimics the effects of opium. These capsules are primarily used to treat pain. Except that they are particularly addictive, and lethal at high doses. dose. The result: 50,000 deaths a year. President Donald Trump therefore declared a public health emergency in 2017.

Logically, the FDA has high hopes for Nantheia ATL5. In this drug candidate, CBD in high doses could soothe pain. As we know, the molecule is particularly interesting for its anti-inflammatory properties, without being psychoactive. It therefore mimics the analgesic effect of Fentanyl or Oxycodone, without the risk of overdose. Even if high-dose CBD may be harmful to the liver, This is in no way comparable to the opioid catastrophe.

Proof of the hype: the clinical trial will be fully funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). This U.S. government agency fights addiction to hard drugs such as opioids. This funding is in line with 3 million dollars released by the US government to use cannabis as a substitute for opioids.