Clinical trial results from a Phase II trial published in the Annals of Oncology indicate that medicinal cannabis improves the control of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV).
Of the 72 patients that completed the trial, which took 2.5 years, 25% experienced no vomiting and nausea, and 83% preferred medicinal cannabis to the placebo. The study was conducted by the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, the University of Sydney, and leading NSW cancer centres, using a 1:1 medication supplied by Tilray.
“Nausea and vomiting are among the most distressing and feared consequences of chemotherapy,” said chief investigator, Peter Grimison, medical oncologist at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse and Associate Professor at the University of Sydney. “These encouraging results indicate medicinal cannabis can help improve quality of life for chemotherapy patients.”
“The side-effects associated with chemotherapy are some of the primary causes of treatment discontinuation”, says Philippe Lucas, Vice President of Global Patient Research and Access at Tilray, “so improving the control of nausea and vomiting can not only improve the quality of life of patients, by allowing those affected by cancer to complete their treatment it can also potentially save lives.”
Based on these promising results, the CTC plans to recruit an additional 170 participants to complete accrual for the definitive, phase III, parallel group analysis.
