UK regulator approves Bod to trial cannabis as a treatment for COVID symptoms

With rising COVID cases around the world following the latest Omicron strain outbreak, UK regulators are willing to try anything to reduce the mortality rate of COVID-19, including the use of medicinal cannabis for which Bod Australia (ASX: BOD) has been approved to commence clinical trials. 

The Clinical Trial Authorisation (CTA) has been granted by the UK’s Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency which allows Bod to immediately commence participant recruitment. 

Under the trial program, Bod will administer daily doses of their MediCabilis® cannabis product to 30 participants that suffer from the extended effects of COVID-19, with their recurring symptoms including chronic pain, anxiety, sleep disturbances and fatigue. 

The clinical trial will be led by Principle investigator, Dr Elizabeth Iverson, targeting long-COVID which is the term being used to describe persistent or new symptoms that develop at least eight weeks following an initial COVID-19 infection.

“Securing CTA is a major achievement for Bod and follows a considerable amount of preparation undertaken alongside our partner, Drug Science to finalise the design of clinical trial protocols, achieving ethics approval and delineating relevant outcomes,” said Bod Australia CEO, Jo Patterson. 

“While there aren’t any existing treatments for long-COVID, our medicinal cannabis products have been used to treat and alleviate a number of similar conditions. We anticipate that this clinical trial will provide us with great insight into its potential to treat long-COVID and build on the body of evidence for the use of cannabis-based medicines, in place of other pharmaceuticals. 

“We will utilise the data generated to gain a better understanding of whether MediCabilis® can be used as a potential treatment and how we can expedite further product commercialisation, which will underpin ongoing sales growth.” 

In the UK, there are approximately 1.3 million people believed to be suffering long-COVID where 1 in 40 infections have symptoms lasting upwards of three months. At present, there is no treatment for long-COVID but Bod sees the commercial opportunity where there is significant overlap between its symptoms and MediCabilis’® treatment range. 

Under the clinical trial setting, recruits will be administered MediCabilis®, on a daily basis, over a six-month period. Each participant will undertake monthly and daily self-reporting assessing common long-COVID symptoms such as breathlessness, fatigue, cognition and pain via a smartphone app. 

In a more general application, MediCablis is currently prescribed to patients with conditions including chronic pain, anxiety and sleep disorders.