Cannabis extracts may slow MS development, says study

Cannabis extracts may slow MS development, says study

By Catherine Shanahan

Thursday, February 02, 2012

A doctor who has treated a child as young as two for multiple sclerosis is hopeful the results of a clinical trial will show cannabis plant extracts may help slow the development of disability.

Professor John Zajicek said this would mark a breakthrough in treatment of the disease in its secondary progressive stage, for which treatments are largely unavailable.

Cannabinoids are proving effective in improving symptoms in the early stage, known as the "relapsing-remitting" stage. This includes reduced muscle stiffness and spasms and better bladder control in patients.

"Those treatments [use of cannabinoids] have been going on for a while now and there is fairly good evidence that they work on the symptoms, but there is nothing to treat progression. We have to wait and see what the trial results will show to see if cannabinoids are effective in the second stage," he said.

Prof Zajicek, chief investigator of the largest clinical trial of this nature, said the CUPID (cannabinoid use in progressive inflammatory brain disease) trial was complete and the results were being analysed.

He said there were challenges in carrying out a trial involving use of cannabis. Some patients are given the actual drug and others a "dummy" drug, without being told which is which.

It was difficult to disguise the actual drug because patients taking it get high. The trial produced a "placebo response", where patients taking the dummy drug reported improvements. This was the case for a woman in a wheelchair who returned to walking, despite being given a dummy. There is no product containing cannabis that has been approved as a medicine in Ireland.

Prof Zajicek, a neurology consultant at Plymouth’s Peninsula Medical School, is among speakers at a conference, organised by the Science and Surgical Societies at University College Cork, taking place tomorrow, Saturday and Monday.

* http://www.surgsoc.ucc.ie

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, February 02, 2012

Read the original:
Cannabis extracts may slow MS development, says study