Sapphire Medical Clinics (“Sapphire”), is pleased to highlight the recent report from the international peer-reviewed ‘Journal of Clinical Pharmacology’, which has today published new data from The UK Medical Cannabis Registry (“The Registry”) on the first group of UK chronic pain patients treated with medical cannabis oil. 110 patients were included in the final analysis detailing medium-term safety data in the use of Cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs).
Patient-reported outcome measures following treatment with CBMP oils found statistically significant improvements in health-related quality of life in patients at one, three and six months following treatment. Additionally, significant improvements in patients’ pain and discomfort subscales were demonstrated at one and three months. Randomised trials are still required to elucidate the full effect of CBMPs.
Patient demographics were split evenly between male and female (51% and 49% respectively) with a mean age of 52. Most patients (65%) had never used cannabis. The most common primary diagnosis was chronic non-cancer pain (48%), followed by neuropathic pain (24%) and fibromyalgia (16%).
Chronic pain, defined as persistent or recurring pain lasting longer than 3 months, is challenging to manage and pharmacological therapies, such as opioids, lack high quality evidence to support therapeutic efficacy and are associated with known side-effects. Research into CBMPs as a therapeutic option in the management of chronic pain, therefore, continues to gain interest.
The Registry was the first such database in the UK and has been set up by clinicians at Sapphire Medical Clinics, a multi-award-winning medical cannabis clinic, and the highest CQC-rated clinic of its kind. They have also published outcomes related to health-related quality of life across all conditions. Medical cannabis was legalised in November 2018 and can be prescribed by specialist doctors when conventional therapy has not provided adequate symptom relief for conditions such as pain, anxiety, and multiple sclerosis.
Dr Simon Erridge, Head of Research and Access at Sapphire Medical Clinics, commented: “With the increasing number of prescriptions for medical cannabis in the UK, capturing patient outcomes and Real-World Evidence is essential for wider understanding and appropriate access for eligible patients. This research is the first of its kind in Europe and we continue to review condition and product-specific outcomes via The UK Medical Cannabis Registry. Though this is still observational data it will inform critical future research including Randomised Controlled Trials.”
Jaye Compton is 42 from North Devon and has been a patient at Sapphire Medical Clinics for almost a year. Prescribed medical cannabis for her chronic pain caused by arthritis, she commented on contributing to The UK Medical Cannabis Registry, “Advancing the evidence of this treatment is important to me, I am glad to be a patient contributing to the registry and expanding this area of research.”
Free full access: https://accp1.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcph.1961
