Jeusalem Post

Hashish good for joints

By Judy Siegel

JERUSALEM (June 7) - If your joints are going to pot, a hashish derivative may be your salvation. A doctoral student at the Hebrew University's School of Pharmacy in Jerusalem has discovered that a substance taken from the hallucinatory drug can be effective as an anti-inflammatory drug for rheumatoid arthritis.

For her work with hashish as a therapeutic agent, Susanna Tchilibon - a 32-year-old immigrant from Milan - has been named a winner of one of this year's Kaye Prizes for Innovations and Inventions at the university. The prizes were awarded during the 64th meeting of the university's board of governors, which ended yesterday. Tchilibon said that hashish (cannabis), which is derived from the Indian hemp plant, has been used since ancient times for treating various ailments, such as malaria, constipation, and rheumatic pains. The plant has both psychoactive and non-psychoactive constituent elements. She investigated the metabolism of the major non-psychoactive material in cannabis, called cannabidiol (CBD), and found that an acid derived from CBD, code named HU-320, is a potent anti-inflammatory agent. HU-320 is comparable to the known drug indomethacin, but without the known and considerable gastrointestinal side effects caused by that drug. Tchilibon added that use of hashish or marijuana (another hemp plant derivative) has never been shown to cause those side effects.

A patent based on her work has been registered via the university's Yissum Research Development Company. Further evaluation is anticipated to test the effectiveness of HU-320, particularly as a potential treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

Commenting on her decision to settle in Israel alone, without her family, five years ago, Tchilibon said: "I wanted to study for my doctorate in medicinal chemistry, and I felt that the Hebrew University was the best place to do this." Her research has been conducted in the pharmacy school's Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products.

-- Anonymous, June 07, 2001