Clinical Trial: CBD Linked to Reduced Pain and Inflammation in Patients With Recurrent Pericarditis
- Pharmaceutically manufactured cannabidiol (CBD) was linked to significant reductions in chest pain and systemic inflammation in patients with recurrent pericarditis, according to a Phase 2 open-label clinical trial.
- The study involved 27 adults with symptomatic recurrent pericarditis who received CBD for eight weeks, leading to average pain scores dropping from 5.8 to 2.1, with a median time of five days to reach minimal pain.
- Among participants with elevated C-reactive protein, 80% normalized their inflammation markers by week eight, and 71% of those in the extension phase remained free from recurrence while tapering off other pericarditis medications.
- The treatment was generally safe, with one serious adverse event causing discontinuation in one patient, supporting the need for larger randomized controlled trials to further evaluate CBD’s efficacy and safety in recurrent pericarditis.
Pharmaceutically manufactured cannabidiol was associated with reductions in chest pain and systemic inflammation among patients with recurrent pericarditis, according to a new clinical trial.
Published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the Phase 2 study involved researchers from Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Northwestern University Chicago, Harvard Medical School, the University of Virginia and Monash University in Melbourne.
Recurrent pericarditis is a condition involving repeated inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart, often causing significant chest pain. Researchers said the condition may be driven in part by inappropriate activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, an inflammatory pathway that pharmaceutical CBD has been shown to inhibit in preclinical research.
The study
The open-label, multicenter trial included 27 adults with symptomatic recurrent pericarditis. Participants had chest pain rated at least 4 on an 11-point scale, along with elevated C-reactive protein levels or evidence of pericardial inflammation on cardiac imaging.
Patients received CBD during an eight-week treatment period, followed by an optional 18-week extension during which their existing treatments, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, colchicine and corticosteroids, were gradually discontinued.
Average maximum pain scores declined from 5.8 at the start of the study to 2.1 after eight weeks. The median time for patients to report a pain score of 2 or lower was five days.
Among the 10 participants who began the trial with elevated C-reactive protein, a marker of systemic inflammation, eight had normal levels by the eighth week.
Of the 24 patients who entered the extension period, 17, or 71%, remained free of another pericarditis recurrence while their background medications were tapered and discontinued.
One participant experienced a serious adverse event that resulted in CBD treatment being stopped.
Researchers conclude by stating:
In symptomatic patients with recurrent pericarditis, treatment with pharmaceutically manufactured cannabidiol resulted in reductions in pericarditis pain and systemic inflammation (as assessed via C‐reactive protein). The majority of patients remained free of recurrence during the extension period with weaning and discontinuation of background pericarditis medications. The trial medication was safe in this small sample size with a serious adverse event in one patient that resulted in discontinuation of treatment. Overall, these findings support larger, definitive randomized controlled trials evaluating the efficacy and safety of pharmaceutically manufactured cannabidiol in pericarditis.