Key points
- The BOD Australia share price is up nearly 7%
- The company's announced a new trial on treatment for long term COVID-19
- It involves a medicinal cannabis product
The BOD Australia Ltd (ASX: BOD) share price is surging today amid news of a new COVID-19 clinical trial.
The company's shares are currently swapping hands at 23.5 cents, up 6.82%.
Let's take a look at what the company announced today?
Medicinal cannabis to treat COVID-19?
BOD investors are reacting to news of a clinical trial into the use of medicinal cannabis to treat long term COVID-19.
The company will work with Drug Science UK on the six-month trial featuring BOD's flagship product MediCabilis.
Symptoms of long term COVID-19 include chronic pain, anxiety, fatigue, and sleeping trouble. The trial will recruit 30 people suffering from the condition.
BOD is hopeful it will be able to commercialise its product in the UK and "other countries" if the trial is successful.
About 1.3 million people are estimated to have long-COVID-19 in the UK with 1 in 40 of these having symptoms lasting three months or more.
BOD said its MediCabilis product is already prescribed to treat people with long-COVID-19 symptoms including anxiety, sleep disorders, and chronic pain.
Management comment
Speaking on the news of the trial, CEO Jo Patterson said:
While there aren't any existing treatments for long-COVID, our medicinal cannabis products have been used to treat and alleviate a number of similar conditions.
We anticipate that this clinical trial will provide us with great insight into its potential to treat long-COVID and build on the body of evidence for the use of cannabis-based medicines, in place of other pharmaceuticals.
Share price snapshot
The BOD share price has crashed by 50% in the past year. Despite this, it is up 4% in the last month and nearly 7% in the past week.
In comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has returned more than 10% to investors in the past year.
The company commands a market capitalisation of about 24.9 million based on the current share price.
