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Cannabis trials funding announced

Sarah Boseley

BBC

Monday 13 Dec 1999


Funding has been approved for one of the first ever clinical trials
using cannabis extract to relieve multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms.

The study, officially sanctioned by the UK Medical Research Council
(MRC) and led by Dr John Zajicek of Derriford Hospital in Plymouth,
can now start recruiting more than 600 patients with the crippling
disease.

The MRC is providing a grant of £950,000 to carry out the research.

Patients will be recruited from MS clinics around the country - anyone
wishing to take part should contact their own specialist.

The research will examine whether any active ingredient of cannabis
can help lessen the muscular rigidity which characterises the disease.

But a full licenced treatment is still unlikely to be available inside
two years.

Peter Cardy, chief executive of the MS Society of Great Britain, said:
"It is clearly an unacceptable state of affairs when many people
suffering from a serious medical condition feel driven to break the
law.

"The trial will provide us with the evidence we need to know whether
cannabis is a safe and effective treatment."

Patients taking part will be given one of three treatments - either an
extract of all the ingredients of cannabis, tetrahydrocannibol,
thought to be the principal active chemicals, or simply a dummy
treatment.

The drugs will be administered in the form of pills, not smoked.

The Derriford study is not the only one planned - Dr Anita Holdcroft
from Hammersmith Hospital in London is planning to use the drug to see
if it can alleviate post-operative pain.

Approximately 85,000 people in the UK suffer from MS, for which there
is still no cure.

It is a progressive condition affecting the nervous system which leads
to loss of motor function in the limbs, and eventually death in many
cases.

 

 

 

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