Cannabis Takes On Superbugs: Could This New Drug ‘Change Infection Treatment Forever’?
“We got really lucky about six years ago when we started exploring how cannabinoids might be used to treat drug-resistant infections,” says Dr. Dana Lambert, CEO of Andira Pharmaceuticals, in an exclusive interview with Benzinga.
Dr. Lambert doesn’t speak like an academic. Despite holding a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences, she talks like someone who has witnessed medicine fail firsthand. She began her career as a hospital pharmacist, working with critically ill patients — people battling cancer, severe infections and other conditions where existing treatments often fell short.
She saw, up close, the limitations of conventional medicine, “particularly when it comes to treating drug-resistant infections and cancer-related conditions.”
But instead of accepting those limitations as inevitable, she took a bold step: she left her clinical practice entirely to pursue pharmaceutical research.
“I became increasingly interested in new therapeutic approaches, especially as research started emerging on the potential of cannabinoids in treating cancer and antimicrobial-resistant infections,” she says.
That realization drove her to earn a Ph.D.; not because she wanted a career in academia, but because she needed the tools to create real-world solutions.
“I’m probably the furthest thing from an academic scientist you’ll ever meet,” Lambert says. “I did it because I wanted to learn how to develop drugs and get involved in early-stage research and drug discovery.”
What she and her team at Andira Pharmaceuticals uncovered was something that could change how the world fights infections. The discovery? Silvanex: a next-generation antimicrobial technology that could be the answer to drug-resistant “superbugs.”
The Problem With Traditional Antimicrobials
“Most traditional antimicrobials — whether they’re antibiotics, antifungals or even silver-based products — eventually lose effectiveness because bacteria and fungi evolve resistance over time. That’s how we ended up in the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis we’re facing today,” Lambert explains.
See also: Germany’s Medical Cannabis Boom: Prices Drop Below $4.20/Gram, Prescriptions Surge 1,000%
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria now kill more than 1.27 million people annually, with drug-resistant infections contributing to nearly 4.95 million deaths worldwide in 2019 alone. If left unaddressed, AMR could lead to more than 39 million deaths between 2025 and 2050.
The economic consequences are just as severe. The World Bank estimates AMR could result in a GDP loss of $1 trillion to $3.4 trillion annually by 2030, with global healthcare costs rising by an additional $1 trillion by 2050. If no action is taken, AMR could cause a 3.8% reduction in global GDP, costing the world economy up to $100 trillion by mid-century.
