Does Cannabis Use Provide Protection Against Coronavirus?

When asked in a virtual interview if the potential for NT-VRL inhalation to be used as a preventative for coronavirus infections suggests that smoking or vaping cannabis could have a similar effect, Eybna CEO and co-founder Nadav Eyal notes that it “is important to be careful to not jump to conclusions of this kind.” 

But if a clinical trial of the compound as a preventative for coronavirus infections is successful, “due to the fact that NT-VRL terpenes are also found in cannabis strains, it can be estimated that cannabis evaporation will also have some effectiveness,” says Eyal.

After reviewing the study, Jahan Marcu, Ph.D., founding partner of cannabis science consulting firm Marcu & Arora and the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Endocannabinoid Medicine, said in a phone interview that the potential for using terpenes and CBD as a treatment for coronavirus infections is an interesting idea to pursue, and agrees that people should not view their cannabis use as protection from illness.

“It'd be great if we could just sort of smoke our way out of a coronavirus, but I don't think that this study shows that,” Marcu says, adding that further research, including into the mechanism at work and the formulation’s effect on other factors such as viral load in living organisms, is warranted.

 What’s Next?

Eybna’s next step in the development of NT-VRL is a Phase 2 clinical trial slated for the second quarter of 2021 at one of Israel’s leading hospitals to determine if the product exhibits the same benefits in Covid-19 patients. And currently, the scientific team at the company is working to clarify NT-VRL’s mechanism of action and to prove that the terpene formulation is effective against other strains of the coronavirus, as well as other types of viruses such as those that cause influenza.

“If clinically proven, NT-VRL could be the first preventative line of defense for a population with a high infection risk,” Eyal says. “It would significantly strengthen existing preventative measures such as face masks, maintaining personal hygiene and vitamin D usage.”

The authors of the study note that while the distribution of vaccines to prevent Covid-19 has begun, the timeline for vaccination on a global scale is yet to be determined. And even when widespread access to the vaccines is achieved, there will always be individuals for whom inoculation is not recommended, making preventative measures and new treatments highly beneficial.

“Several population groups, such as the youngest age groups and people with health limitations, will take longer to vaccinate,” they wrote. “Therefore, a preventative antiviral treatment to be used in conjunction with vaccines or even temporarily until vaccination or other alternatives become available would be valuable.”