International producer Ikänik Farms, Inc. says it helped complete a new study that shows how cannabis extracts can slow the damaging effects caused in cells by Covid-19.
On Wednesday, the California-based company reported initial lab results from a third-party study that suggested cannabis oil inhibited the replication cycle of the novel coronavirus by 62.5 per cent.
Disclosure: Ikänik Farms is a Mugglehead advertiser
Ikänik provided pharmaceutical-grade cannabis oil to researchers at Colombia’s University of Antioquia to conduct the in vitro Covid-19 study, according a press statement. The cannabis oil was extracted from the company’s registered genetics cultivated a its GMP-Pharma certified facility in Colombia.
“We are pleased to announce the results of our Covid- 19 study and the positive implications to the virus replication cycle,” Ikänik CEO Brian Baca said in the statement.
The University of Antioquia is located in Medellín, Colombia. Photo by SajoR via Wikimedia Commons
Ikänik said testing was conducted by the University of Antioquia’s Immunovirology Group, which first determined the optimal dose of the extracts in healthy cells.
The second stage of experiments applied the optimal dose, along with positive and negative controls, and found that the cannabis oil had an antiviral effect on the cells infected with Covid-19.
A microbiological test was also conducted on the provided samples that showed no presence of pathogenic fungi or bacteria, which is a quality standard requirement for medicine in the European Union.
“We are excited to collaborate with [the University of Antioquia], as the first academic institution in Colombia to isolate the virus,” Ikänik International president Borja Sanz de Madrid said. “We will continue our research internationally in hopes to discover a viable cannabinoid solution for the current global crisis.”
Last month, Ikänik also made the first-ever shipment of pharmaceutical cannabis products to Mexico to support the fight against Covid-19.
Read more: Ikänik Farms to aid Covid-19 research with first import of pharmaceutical cannabis to Mexico
The company imported pharmaceutical-grade cannabis oil from its Colombia facility to Mexican medicine firm CAS Biotechnology to study how cannabinoids interact with key proteins in Covid-19, and whether it can slow down the virus’s replication cycle in human lung receptors.
The pre-clinical research is expected to last less than a year and will add to a number of studies that are testing cannabinoids like CBD as a potential treatment for lung inflammation caused by the coronavirus.
Scientists have indicated that an infected host undergoes a cytokine explosion, a burst of immune-system proteins that cause potentially deadly inflammatory symptoms in the lungs.
A recent study — published last month in the Brain, Behavior, and Immunity journal — found CBD decreased lung inflammation in a rodent model of acute lung injury “potentially through the inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokine production by immune cells and suppressing exuberant immune responses.”
Read more: CBD can treat physical and mental Covid-19 symptoms: study
According to market research firm Prohibition Partners, there are 16 groups working on developing Covid-19 therapies using cannabis or cannabinoids.
However, the U.K.-based firm said that as of Aug. 20, only two complete studies have shown positive results so far and both were in mice models of Covid-related symptoms.
One study showed that THC protects the lungs from overactive immune responses similar to those caused by Covid-19, while the other study showed a similar response when testing CBD.
Top image via Ikänik Farms
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