Medical discovery because cannabis has been found to kill superbugs and save 10 million lives a year

A surprising drug could become the first class of antibiotics in 60 years that kills bacteria resistant to diseases such as gonorrhea, meningitis and legionnaires.

Researchers at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland have discovered a new use for cannabis in their global fight to stop deadly superbugs.

Laboratory studies have shown synthetic cannabidiol, the main non-psychoactive component of cannabis better known as CBD, can kill bacteria in diseases such as gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted infection.

The research was hailed as a potential global medical breakthrough, amid predictions of drug-resistant infections that could lead to 10 million deaths worldwide by the year 2050 if no alternative treatment is found.

The research, recently published in the journal Communications Biology, is part of a collaboration between Queensland researchers and Botanix Pharmaceuticals, which led to the first new class of antibiotics for resistant bacteria in 60 years.

“This is the first time that CBD has been shown to kill some types of Gram-negative bacteria. These bacteria have an additional outer membrane, an additional line of defense that makes antibiotics harder to penetrate, said Dr. Mark Blaskovich, director of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience.

The researchers also found that cannabidiol is effective in eliminating the MRSA superbug found in golden staphylococcal bacteria.

It can also be used to treat infected diabetic ulcers and wounds.

“Cannabidiol has shown a low tendency to cause resistance to bacteria even when we have accelerated potential growth by increasing antibiotic levels during ‘treatment,'” added Dr. Blaskovich.

“We believe that cannabidiol kills bacteria by breaking the outer cell membranes, but we still don’t know exactly how it does that and we need to do more research.”

Other studies with CBD formulations are currently underway.

“We believe we can design a different version of CBD that may have some systemic activity,” Dr. Blaskovich told Courier Mail.

“We want something that doesn’t break down in the body as quickly as CBD. There is certainly potential in which CBD could be a prototype representative of a new class of antibiotics.

Botanix President Vince Ippolito described the Queensland research as a major discovery.

“The published data clearly establish the potential of synthetic cannabinoids as antimicrobials,” Ippolito said.

“Our company is now ready to market viable antimicrobial treatments that we hope will reach more patients in the near future. This is a major discovery that the world needs now. ‘

The pharmaceutical company will now advance a topical formulation of CBD in clinical trials.

These Phase 2a clinical results are expected earlier this year and we hope this will pave the way for treatments for gonorrhea, meningitis and legionnaires’ disease, said Dr. Blaskovich.

We have now established that cannabidiol is effective against these Gram-negative bacteria, we look at its mode of action, improving its activity and finding other similar molecules to pave the way for a new class of antibiotics.

Dr. Blaskovich estimates that it will be 10-15 years before it becomes an approved antibiotic if further studies are followed.