Cannabisderived drug to be tested on MS patients

The first Scottish trials of a cannabisderived drug to treat MS
patients could start in the next 6 months.

The news will be welcomed by thousands of people who suffer from the
debilitating disease north of the border. Scotland has the highest
incidence in the UK of MS, a progressive disease of the nervous system.
Around one in 800 people are affected.

Just last week the British Medical Association called for the
legalisation of such drugs for medicinal use to stop patients being
forced to obtain illegal supplies from drug dealers to treat illnesses
such as MS. A number of people claiming a medical defence have been sent
to prison for breaking the law.

Only one cannabis derivative is so far licensed in the UK and its use is
restricted to the treatment in hospital of cancer patients.

Professor Roger Pertwee, reader in biomedical sciences at Aberdeen
University, is currently finalising details of the trial and is seeking
funding for this yearlong research.

The move follows a survey on the use of cannabis by MS sufferers in the
UK and US which showed that the drug relieved muscle stiffness and pain.

Around 80 patients will take part in a trial which will involve a
cannabisrelated compound called THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, which is
licensed in America to treat cancer and AIDS patients. Pertwee believes
that a single compound will prove to be more effective than taking
cannabis itself, as the majority of the psychoactive substances found
in the drug are unlikely to be benificial to patients. He expects the
trial to begin in the next 6 to 9 months.

Pertwee, who has been researching cannabis and related compounds (known
as cannabinoids) for 30 years, will put forward the arguements for using
cannabisbased drugs at a conference in London this week organised by
the MS Society and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

"Some drugs used to treat MS are not very effective for all patients or
may give them very unpleasant side effects," he said. "For that group of
patients, cannabinoids might help."

Pertwee expressed concern that people were currently resorting to buying
cannabis on the street and said he would prefer them to take the drug
under medical supervision until trials had been carried out as there was
a risk that cannabis could bring on a heart attack in people with
cardiac problems, or schizophrenia in those generally predisposed to the
condition. People with asthma and glaucoma could also benifit from
treatment with cannabinoids, he said.

The MS Society is keen to see properly controlled clinical trials of any
potential treatment involving substances derived from cannabis.