UK data shows ‘considerable promise’ for medicinal cannabis in range of conditions

New data from the UK shows that prescribed cannabis is associated with an improvement in symptoms, quality of life and a reduction in opioid use.

Findings from the UK cannabis patient registry, T21, build on the growing database of real-world evidence (RWE) to support the use of prescribed cannabis in patients living with conditions including chronic pain, anxiety and PTSD.

Observational data shows that cannabis is associated with reduced symptoms and improvements in quality of life across a range of conditions, as well as being linked to a ‘considerable reduction’ in the use of prescribed opioids among chronic pain patients. 

Researchers collected data from over 2,800 patients enrolled on Drug Science’s T21 registry who were prescribed cannabis for a range of indications. A total of 1,410 participants completed follow-up questionnaires after three months of treatment.  

The majority of patients were male, with an average age of 40-years-old. The most common primary conditions were chronic pain (53%), anxiety disorders (32%) and PTSD (6%). Almost all patients (92%) reported having at least one secondary medical condition. 

Improvements in health and quality of life 

Following analysis, researchers found that patients experienced improvements in ‘disease-specific symptomatology’ with a reduction in both ‘pain severity and the extent to which pain interfered with their daily activities’. Patients with anxiety disorder and PTSD also experienced a reduction in symptoms. 

In addition, self-reported general health, quality of life, mood and sleep improved ‘markedly’ after three months of treatment, with data indicating ‘clinically significant’ improvements. 

Only around 3% of patients reported one or more adverse events and these were described as ‘mild’ or ‘moderate’. 

The authors say: “This relatively large RWD [real-world data] study of the effectiveness of CBMPs indicates considerable promise with the use of these drugs being associated with reduced symptoms and improvements in quality of life across a range of chronic conditions. 

“These findings are consistent with burgeoning RWE, collected over decades (arguably, millennia) that cannabis is both safe and effective in treating a range of conditions. Given the accumulating evidence it is increasingly less tenable to deny people access to these drugs on the basis of past failures by the medical profession to adequately research their efficacy.”

Despite approximately half of the patients having previously used cannabis daily for the illicit market, a comparison between this group and those who were cannabis naive revealed ‘few differences’.

The authors say this may be ‘indicative of improved product quality and consistency’, and ‘ease of access’.

‘Noteworthy’ reductions in opioid use 

Researchers also examined the effects cannabis had on opioid consumption among the 800 chronic pain patients enrolled in the registry. 

The percentage of chronic pain patients who reported use of opioids reduced from 441 (55.1%) to 177 (22.1%) indicating that over half (59.9%) of those using opioids had stopped all use of these drugs.

“Given ongoing concerns about the over-prescribing and misuse of opioids, findings of a reduction in both the number of people using any prescribed opioids and in the mean dose of these drugs among chronic pain patients are noteworthy,” the authors say.

Building a ‘pattern of evidence’

The findings from this latest paper reflect those of other observational studies and RWE collected from both the UK and internationally.

Data from Sapphire Clinics’ Medical Cannabis Patient Registry also suggests that patients with a range of chronic conditions experience improvements to their health and quality of life with prescribed cannabis, with relatively few adverse effects.

Head of research at Drug Science, Dr Anne Schlag, told Cannabis Health that a ‘pattern of evidence’ was building to support the safety and efficacy of cannabis medicines.

“Our findings show substantial improvements in general health, quality of life, as well as condition-specific symptoms for a large cohort receiving a variety of CBMPs. Additionally, we document a considerable reduction in prescribed opioids. Serious adverse events were thankfully rare,” she commented.

“These findings reflect results from other large scale patient registries, both nationally and internationally, building up to a pattern of evidence. Keeping in mind the known limitations of real world evidence, this nevertheless suggests that CBMPs are both effective and safe when used as prescribed.”

Click here to read the full paper 

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