Early research suggesting that CBD might help prevent or treat COVID-19 warrants further investigation in rigorous clinical trials, researchers say. Several recent laboratory studies of CBD have shown promising results, attracting media attention.

However, many other potential COVID treatments that showed promise in test tubes, from hydroxychloroquine to various drugs used to treat cancer and other diseases, ultimately failed to show benefit for COVID-19 patients once studied in clinical trials.

Marsha Rosner of the University of Chicago led a team that found CBD appeared to help curb SARS-CoV-2 in infected cells in laboratory experiments. “Our findings do not say this will work in patients. Our findings make a strong case for a clinical trial,” she said.

Using small doses of highly purified CBD that approximate what patients receive in an oral drug already approved for severe epilepsy, Rosner and colleagues found that CBD did not keep the coronavirus from infecting cells in test tubes.

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