Is CBD ready for prime time in sickle cell disease?

In this issue of Blood, Cherukury et al demonstrate that cannabidiol (CBD), a nonpsychoactive phytocannabinoid, can decrease hyperalgesia and markers of systemic inflammation in murine models (HbSS-BERK) of sickle cell disease (SCD).1 The effects of CBD on pain and markers of inflammation were both dose and sex dependent. This promising study suggests that CBD may be effective for the treatment of chronic pain in SCD and/or could be disease modifying owing to its anti-inflammatory properties.