“So far, no vaccine has been successfully developed and there is no effective treatment of COVID-19.
Since intensive inflammation leads to disease-induced morbidity and mortality, inhibition of the hyperinflammatory response is a definitive drug therapy objective.
Certainly, there is an urgent need for a substance that can potentially counter the effects of the virus and alleviate the symptoms and severity of the disease.
Could opioids/cannabinoids be an effective treatment for COVID-19?
Since opioids/cannabinoids receptors-based drugs can modulate immune cell migration and cytokine/chemokine secretion, they represent a promising pharmacological platform for developing anti-inflammatory therapeutics.
Therefore in the absence of effective treatments to decrease the damage associated with COVID-19 especially in those admitted to the ICU and suffer from exaggerated inflammatory response, opioids/cannabinoids receptor agonists might potentially open up an effective therapeutic approach in COVID-19 infection.
It is interesting to remember that physicians in the late 19th century used anodynes of opium tincture as a treatment of ‘bronchitis’ and other ailments in infants and children, as case reports and experience ‘demonstrated the efficacy’ of the concoction in controlling coughing and facilitating breathing.
Also, today some products of cannabinoids are used to modulate an inflammatory response. This permits us to rediscover the past and utilize the present, with hopes of finding the missing links in the pathophysiology of COVID-19, and raises the issue of opioids/cannabinoids utilization in the context of COVID-19.
It is suggested that clinical trials could be conducted on opioids/cannabinoids products with immunomodulatory activity. We hope that, with great efforts, scientific support, and sharing of information, the overcoming of COVID-19 will come soon.”
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17476348.2020.1787836