Canopy Growth and its medical division, Spectrum Therapeutics, has partnered with NemaLife Inc., to further research into long-term toxicity and lifespan effects of cannabidiol (CBD).
Canopy Growth has been researching the solubility, stability, acute toxicity, thermotolerance and effects on lifespan with the use of CBD.
Hunter Land, senior director of translational and discovery science at Canopy Growth says that despite the mass amount of people who use CBD, no life-long toxicity studies have been conducted to determine the impact – or potential impact – of long-term exposure to CBD.
“These results serve as the only CBD life-long exposure data in an in vivo model to date, and the absence of long-term toxicity gives us the evidence we need as an industry to continue researching the potential health benefits for the broader application of CBD.”
The company’s commitment is to provide the required data to support and influence public policy through research.
The study focused on adaptations using a C. elegans model (worm model) because 60 to 80 per cent of their genes are shared with humans and their short lifespan of 2-3 weeks makes studies possible to pursue.
Research suggests that CBD did not demonstrate any degree of acute or life-long toxicity or related liabilities at physiological concentrations.
Instead, CBD extended lifespan up to 18 per cent and increased late-stage life activity by 206 per cent compared to the untreated subjects within the study.
While further research into the life-long use of CBD should be carried out in mammalian models, the C. elegans model indicates a lack of long-term toxicity at physiologically relevant concentrations.
Canopy Growth and its medical division Spectrum Therapeutics continue to advance a range of research initiatives aimed at furthering the understanding of – and unleashing – the full potential of cannabis.