Researchers to test if cannabis-based mouth spray can treat brain tumours
A worker holds a tray with cannabis cuttings at the new European production site of Tilray medical cannabis producer, in Cantanhede, on April 24, 2018.
Cancer charities and the NHS in the UK are looking forward to investigating whether a cannabis-based mouth spray can treat brain tumours and help the patients.
The drug, already used in treating multiple sclerosis, was found to be tolerable in combination with chemotherapy, with the potential to extend survival, in phase I trial in glioblastomas earlier this year.
"The new three-year phase II trial (ARISTOCRAT), funded by The Brain Tumour Charity and co-ordinated by the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Birmingham, is due to begin recruiting more than 230 patients across all UK nations in early 2022, subject to sufficient funds being raised", read the news release by Leeds University.
Professor Susan Short, the principle investigator on the new trial and Professor of Clinical Oncology and Neuro-Oncology at Leeds said, "The treatment of glioblastomas remains extremely challenging. Even with surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, nearly all of these brain tumours re-grow within a year, and unfortunately there are very few options for patients once this occurs".
She added, “Glioblastoma brain tumours have been shown to have receptors to cannabinoids on their cell surfaces, and laboratory studies on glioblastoma cells have shown these drugs may slow tumour growth and work particularly well when used with temozolomide".