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U.K. Charity Launches Medical Cannabis Pilot

June 26, 2019

United Kingdom charity Drug Science said it is launching a national medical cannabis pilot with the aim of providing medical cannabis to patients in the United Kingdom.

The pilot program, dubbed Project TWENTY21, will begin by focusing on treating patients in which alternative treatments have failed. This includes chronic pain, post traumatic stress disorder in veterans, multiple sclerosis, prison populations to reduce harm, and Tourette’s syndrome.

Drug Science said it plans to develop a body of evidence using a real-world data registry that documents the efficacy, safety, quality-adjusted life year, and patient reported outcomes in those who are prescribed medical cannabis. The data will 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 United Kingdom.

Cannabis was available as a medicine in the United Kingdom for more than 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 United Kingdom making cannabis a medicine in November 2018 there have as yet been only a handful of prescriptions on the NHS. To address this impasse Drug Science has joined forces with United Patients Alliance, leading academics, and several medical cannabis producers to open up a treatment network for up to 20,000 patients.

“We believe it is a vital initiative,” said Clarke French, director and founder of United Patient Alliance. “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.”


Photo: Clarke French, director and founder of United Patient Alliance

Author: Rare Daily Staff

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