Vienna, Austria: The daily administration of plant-derived cannabidiol is associated with improved life expectancy in select patients with glioblastoma (brain cancer), according to a case series published in the journal Anticancer Research.
Austrian researchers assessed the use of CBD in nine patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Patients were administered 400 mg of CBD daily in addition to conventional anti-cancer treatments.
Authors reported that all but one of the subjects remained alive "with a mean survival time of 22.3 months" – longer than would typically be expected in patients with the disease.
They concluded, "[P]reliminary observations suggest a potential role of CBD in the treatment of glioma."
Two previous reports have shown that CBD elicits a clinical anti-cancer response; however, those studies did not assess survival rates. A 2017 study reported that brain cancer patients treated adjunctively with both plant-derived THC and CBD experienced greater one-year survival rates compared to controls.
Full text of the study, "Concomitant treatment of malignant brain tumors with CBD: A case series and review of the literature," appears in Anticancer Research. Additional information regarding the potential anti-cancer activity of cannabinoids is available online.