Australian medical cannabis company Bod Australia Limited (ASX:BDA) has entered into an agreement with Drug Science UK involving a trial of Bod’s MediCabilis product in managing symptoms associated with long-COVID.

“Long-COVID” is a phenomenon where symptoms continue for weeks or months beyond the initial illness. Far from being isolated cases, it appears long-COVID is quite common; but as with the initial illness the impacts vary patient to patient. Even asymptomatic people who had relatively mild cases are reportedly experiencing long COVID.

At the time of writing, there have been more than 122 million cases of COVID-19 globally. It’s estimated 10% of those testing positive will have symptoms for 12 weeks after diagnosis.

Common reported symptoms are lethargy, muscle aches, loss of smell and taste and shortness of breath. For some, it can be debilitating and prevent them from engaging in a normal level of activity. As well as the physical effects, there’s also the psychological impact that may manifest as anxiety.

With the illness remaining a mystery and more people experiencing it as time goes on, there needs to be ways to manage long-COVID.

Bod’s MediCabilis is currently administered for a range of conditions including pain and anxiety, and the company believes it could assist long-COVID sufferers. MediCabilis is a pharmaceutical grade cannabidiol (CBD) based formulation in oil and wafer form.

Bod and Drug Science are developing a clinical study to explore the effectiveness of prescribing MediCabilis for long-COVID. Protocol for the study, which will occur in the UK, is currently being finalised through a collaborative effort between the two and Bod expects it to commence in the coming months.

Bod will sponsor the study and provide Medicabilis, while Drug Science will conduct the study under Good Clinical Practice standards through an approved UK cannabis subscriber and will be responsible for the collection and analysis of all data.

As well as medicinal cannabis products, Bod Australia is also engaged in the development of non-medicinal health and skincare products based on hemp and other plants. Last year the company teamed up with vitamin and skincare giant Swisse Wellness to launch hemp products for the Australian market.