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UK: Mixed Results from Cannabis Study of MS Patients
Patricia Reaney Reuters
Thursday 06 Nov 2003 LONDON (Reuters) - The biggest study of the use of cannabis to relieve symptoms of multiple sclerosis produced mixed results, but doctors said there is enough evidence to warrant licensing the treatment for the illness. Although there was no objective evidence that cannabis relieved spasticity, or muscle stiffness, caused by the disease, patients reported some improvements in pain relief, rigidity and mobility. There were also fewer relapses in patients given cannabis capsules or extract than in multiple sclerosis, or MS, sufferers taking a placebo. "There is a range of positives and a range of negatives. Overall, I think there is enough evidence to take this forward with the licensing and regulatory authorities," Dr. John Zajicek, a neurologist who headed the study, told Reuters Wednesday. Some sufferers of MS, which affects about a million people worldwide, have reported that cannabis eases pain and muscle rigidity, but Zajicek said there was very little evidence in the medical literature. "This is the biggest study that has yet been published," he said. Earlier this year, the Netherlands became the world's first country to make cannabis available as a prescription drug for cancer, HIV (news - web sites) and MS. Patients in Britain, Canada, Australia and the United Sates have pushed for similar measures. British drug firm GW Pharmaceuticals Plc has pioneered an under-the-tongue cannabis spray for MS patients which could be launched in Britain this year. Zajicek said the aim of the three-year trial of more than 600 MS patients across Britain was to determine whether cannabis had any therapeutic value for the autoimmune disease in which immune system cells destroy the myelin sheath that protects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. He and his team, who reported their findings in The Lancet medical journal, gave MS patients a cannabis extract or capsules with a synthetic version of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an active compound in cannabis, or a placebo for 15 weeks. They assessed spasticity with the Ashworth scale, an objective measuring system used by doctors and physiotherapists. "The primary outcome measure -- the stiffness as measured by the Ashworth scale -- did not show a significant difference between the active group and the placebo. There was a slight improvement, but it wasn't significant," Zajicek said in an interview. There was also no change in tremors or fatigue. But when the researchers questioned the patients, they told a different story, reporting improvements in pain relief and stiffness and an easing of symptoms.
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