Drug Science Announce a 20,000 Patient UK National Medical Cannabis Pilot

Drug Science Announce a 20,000 Patient UK National Medical Cannabis Pilot: Project TWENTY21

Highlights:

• Drug Science’s newly formed medical cannabis working group, which includes the United Patients Alliance, several academic researchers and several medical cannabis companies, is launching the UK’s first national pilot for medical cannabis: Project TWENTY21

• Project TWENTY21 aims to enrol 20,000 patients into the pilot before the end of 2021, using a real word data patient registry, to assess efficacy, safety, QALYs, and patient reported outcomes in those prescribed medical cannabis

• Drug Science believes that the benefit / risk profile of medical cannabis in certain disorders, and as a treatment for certain conditions, is favourable. The risk of continued prohibitionist approach to medical cannabis increases harms by driving patients to the illicit market, with its attendant harms from cannabis of unknown strength and content as well as fuelling an illicit supply chain that will be difficult if not impossible to dismantle in the future

• This project has already received support from several medical cannabis companies including Althea, Alta-Flora and Cannuba, who will provide medical supplies and other support

• Project TWENTY21 will be launched officially on 18th July 2019 in London London, UK.

Monday 24th June 2019: Drug Science is implementing Project TWENTY21 with the goal of providing medical cannabis to UK patients who may benefit from it. In the first instance, the Pilot will be targeting the following patients and situations, specifically focusing on times in which alternative treatment has failed:

• Chronic pain

• PTSD, with a focus on the veteran community

• Multiple sclerosis

• Tourette’s syndrome

• Prison populations as a harm reduction strategy

• Cannabis use disorder and substance use disorder as a harm reduction strategy

To achieve this goal, Project TWENTY21 will develop a body of evidence using a real-world data registry which documents the efficacy, safety, QALY and patient reported outcomes in those prescribed medical cannabis.

This data will then be used to support applications to health authorities in the expectation that there will soon be a new regulatory system for medical cannabis in the UK.

Drug Science is in the final stages of appointing a clinician and management team for Project TWENTY21, led by current CEO David Badcock.

Drug Science Chair Prof David Nutt FMedSci said: “Cannabis was a medicine in the UK for over a century until 1971 when it was banned for political reasons. Since then hundreds of thousands of patients have been forced to break the law to get a treatment that most find preferable to their previous prescription medicines. Despite the UK making cannabis a medicine in November 2018 there have as yet been only a handful of prescriptions on the NHS. To rectify this impasse Drug Science has joined forces with the United Patients Alliance, leading academics and several medical cannabis producers to open up a treatment network for up to 20,000 patients. This will allow patients to get vital therapy without breaking the law. It will also provide a solid clinical database from which experience of and confidence in, medical cannabis prescribing will develop, providing a foundation for other medical prescribers to build on.”

United Patient Alliance Director and Founder, Clarke French said: “The United Patients Alliance is delighted to partner with Drug Science on project Twenty21. We believe it is a vital initiative. Patients in the United Kingdom deserve evidence-based policy and access to cannabis medicines on the NHS. Project Twenty21 will provide a growing body of evidence, to enable cannabis medicines to be accessed by the patients who desperately need it.”

Althea Chief Medical Officer Dr Robert Pawinski said: “Althea is proud to be able to provide the product as part of the national pilot, and resources to ensure patient access. We believe the pilot program will yield valuable data that can then be used to further bolster the case for medical cannabis use and inform public health and stakeholder decisions.”

Alta-Flora CEO Gavin Sathianathan said: “Alta Flora is proud and delighted to support Drug Science and the United Patients Alliance in this vital new initiative to harness the real-world experience of thousands of patients in order to improve the system for prescribing medical cannabis in the UK.”

Rob Jones, CEO from Cannuba said: “Cannuba are very excited to be part of this policy changing project.”

More information can be found about the pilot, which is scheduled to commence in Q4 CY19, at www.mycannabisaccess.co.uk

 

Source – Drug Science