newsGP - CBD shown to kill antibiotic resistant bacteria - RACGP

Researchers have found synthetic cannabidiol can kill bacteria responsible for gonorrhoea, meningitis and Legionnaires’ disease.

The study, conducted by the University of Queensland (UQ) and Botanix Pharmaceuticals (which also funded the research), could lead to the first new class of antibiotics for resistant bacteria in 60 years.

According to Associate Professor Mark Blaskovich, who works at UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience, cannabidiol (CBD) – the main non-psychoactive component of cannabis – can penetrate and kill a wide range of bacteria including Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which causes gonorrhoea.

CBD is able to do this because it is particularly good at breaking down biofilms – the slimy build-up of bacteria, such as dental plaque on the surface of teeth – which help bacteria survive antibiotic treatments.

‘Now we have established that cannabidiol is effective against these Gram-negative bacteria, we are looking at its mode of action, improving its activity and finding other similar molecules to open up the way for a new class of antibiotics.’

Gonorrhoea is the second most common sexually-transmitted infection in Australia and there is currently no single reliable antibiotic to treat it because the bacteria is particularly good at developing resistance

‘We think that cannabidiol kills bacteria by bursting their outer cell membranes, but we don’t know yet exactly how it does that, and need to do further research.’

The research team also discovered that chemical analogs – created by slightly changing CBD’s molecular structure – were also active against the bacteria