Hannah Slater, Senior Communications Manager
One year on from the legalisation of medicinal cannabis, patients still have no access to cannabis-based medicines via the NHS. Last week at a parliamentary group meeting, we heard from patients how the lack of legal access means that many are forced to break the law in order to obtain the medical cannabis which has had profoundly positive impacts on their health. These powerful, distressing testimonies showed the urgent need for an acceleration of evidence gathering on medical cannabis to meet the requirements of our health regulators in order to facilitate access through the NHS.
The CDPRG are delighted to be supporting and partnering with Project TWENTY21, an ambitious study which launches today to gather the evidence on medicinal cannabis. Project TWENTY21 is coordinated by the independent, scientific body DrugScience, which aims to enrol 20,000 UK patients by the end of 2021. The study will provide medical cannabis to patients who may benefit and collect real world data on efficacy, safety, quality adjusted life years and patient reported outcomes. This data will be used to support applications to health authorities for wider access to medicinal cannabis through the NHS.
The CDPRG’s Chair, Crispin Blunt, will speak at the launch of Project TWENTY21 to welcome this important study and underline the need for robust evidence gathering to satisfy regulators, as well facilitating patient access to cannabis medicines through doctors rather than through the black market.
The study will initially focus on patients with chronic pain, PTSD, multiple sclerosis, and tourette’s syndrome, as well as prison populations as a harm reduction strategy and substance use disorder as a harm reduction strategy.
Patients will be recruited through private clinics and pay privately for the initial consultation and a contribution toward prescribed cannabis-based medicines. Patient health outcomes and data will be tracked and used to build an evidence base to meet the needs of health regulators and open up NHS access to medicinal cannabis in due course.
It’s great to see healthcare professionals, patient access groups, and industry work together to innovate on evidence gathering and facilitate legal, affordable patient access to medical cannabis. The CDPRG will be closely following the much-needed Project TWENTY21 and supporting this important pilot.