Study to explore cannabis in children receiving non-cancer palliative care

A new pilot study will explore the use of medicinal cannabis in children and adolescents who are undergoing palliative care for non-cancerous conditions.

The project, led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia, will be the first in the world to investigate the feasibility of a medicinal cannabis clinical trial in easing the symptoms of children undergoing palliative care for non-oncological conditions.  

The initial study will involve 10 participants, aged from six months to 21-years-old, who are receiving care in the Victorian Paediatric Palliative Care Program, and have symptoms that are affecting their quality of life. 

Murdoch Children’s Associate Professor Daryl Efron, who will lead the research, said the trial would be used to evaluate the study design, including recruitment strategy, medication tolerability, duration and outcomes to determine acceptability and feasibility for participating families and the team. 

The data collected will then be used to design a ‘full-scale multi-centre trial’.

Paediatric patients undergoing palliative care experience a range of debilitating symptoms that have a significant impact on well-being and quality of life including pain, irritability, gastrointestinal symptoms, seizures, spasticity and dystonia.

“These symptoms are difficult to control with currently prescribed medications, most of which cause significant side-effects,” said Professor Efron

“Medicinal cannabis is a new therapy with great hope, but there is little evidence from clinical trials, particularly in children. 

“In our experience, parents are interested in obtaining medicinal cannabis for their child’s symptoms, but physicians are reluctant to prescribe it because of the lack of quality research. There is an urgent need for clinical trials to properly evaluate the role of medicinal cannabis for use in these highly vulnerable patients.”

About 70% of patients managed by the Victorian paediatric palliative care service have non-oncological conditions including severe cerebral palsy, metabolic and genetic conditions, neurodegenerative disorders and progressive cardiac disease.

The study is part of an emerging program of research at the Murdoch Children’s into medicinal cannabis for children with an intellectual disability, Tourette Syndrome and other developmental conditions such as autism.

The trial is among 21 projects to receive a grant from the State Government’s Victorian Medical Research Acceleration Fund (VMRAF) , which supports both early-stage research and projects that are ready for commercialisation. Additional support has been provided by Victorian medicinal cannabis company Cannatrek.

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