Researchers Work to Develop CBD Drugs

Researchers are working to develop prescription drugs that act like marijuana, but do not get the patient high, according to The Boston Globe. A number of medical cases have shown that isolating an active ingredient in marijuana, cannabidiol (CBD), has great promise for treating a number of medical conditions without the euphoric effects of THC, another active ingredient in the plant.

Two Massachusetts researchers have received federal grants to work on developing a process for manufacturing pharmaceutical-quality CBD, and to create a synthetic compound that will be medically beneficial without getting patients high, the article reports. It is believed that by harnessing CBD’s, such drugs will have the potential to treat conditions including:

• Seizures
• Psychiatric Disorders
• Glaucoma
• Inflammation
• Chronic Pain

GW Pharmaceuticals has developed a drug which contains a CBD extract that has shown promise in reducing seizures in some children and young adults. Patients taking the experimental drug have had a reduction in seizures by at least half.

While there is a lot of interest into groundbreaking drugs containing CBD’s, marijuana is still illegal on the federal level, which makes it difficult to conduct studies on a national level. However, Aphios Corporation, a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company, has been granted access to the government’s research-grade marijuana to conduct studies. The company will work on developing CBD drugs for researchers to use for study purposes.

“There is a lot of interest from the medical marijuana marketplace, and that is pushing institutions to try and investigate why these things are working and how well are they working,” said Trevor Castor, Chief Executive at Aphios.