New medical cannabis study approved
Drug Science is pleased to announce that the UK’s NHS Research Ethics Committee (NHS REC) and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory agency (MHRA) has granted our researchers permission to study the effects of medical cannabis on long-COVID.
Following this approval, our new patient study will run for six months from February until June 2022. 30 participants who have experienced long-COVID symptoms will be enrolled after approval from their GPs, then administered daily doses of medical cannabis (in oil form).
Throughout the study these patients’ wellbeing will be monitored. Data will then be anonymised and analysed by our researchers, in an effort to establish whether medical cannabis is an effective treatment for their condition.
Drug Science’s CEO, David Badcock, says;
“Our ongoing research into medical cannabis is showing that these relatively new medicines can offer a wide range of benefits to patients. We believe it’s right to investigate whether these same benefits can be extended to people who have become ill during the pandemic.
The study will also help to further develop an evidence base about medical cannabis for GPs and prescribers. A lot of stigma and misinformation persists about these medicines, even though they have been legal for over three years. And that makes them very difficult for patients to access.”
This clinical trial is sponsored by Bod who will also be providing the MediCabilis Cannabis sativa 50 used in the study. We are working together with Alta Flora who have designed a smartphone app that will be used for the assessment of outcome measures and daily symptoms.
We have increased our recruitment area to include participants from the York and North Yorkshire region. This still includes patients registered to any practice within the Nimbuscare network of GP groups across the York region (please click here to see the member practices). Please view the recruitment flyer here and get in touch for more information.
For more study and recruitment information, please contact the study coordinator hannah.thurgur@drugscience.org.uk
For more information, or for information about upcoming press on this matter, please contact press@drugscience.org.uk