Study is Australia's most comprehensive to date in the medicinal cannabis sector, recruiting 20,000 patients nationwide

SYDNEY, NSW, AUSTRALIA, October 25, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Applied Cannabis Research (ACR), a Southern Cannabis Holdings company, is extremely excited to announce that it is launching Australia’s largest observational study ever undertaken for medical cannabis. ACR will lead the study in conjunction with Australia’s medical community and key industry partners such as Althea Group Holdings, Cronos Australia, Cymra Life Sciences, Medcan Australia and Cann Global.

Working with clinical collaborators from major clinics and hospitals, the Cannabinoid Medicine Observational Study (CMOS) will collect data from 20,000 patients nationwide to assess the safety and efficacy of medicinal cannabis products for a range of refractory conditions including fibromyalgia, chronic pain syndromes, PTSD, epilepsy and other mental health and neurological conditions.

CMOS provides a first-of-its-kind opportunity to capture data from a broader range of Australian prescribers and patients than in existing studies. Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has now approved over 67,000 SAS-B applications for medical cannabis to end September 2020, up from approx 56,000 in July, and an exponential jump since only 2500 approvals in 2018. With a lack of randomised clinical trials within the space, there is an urgent need for large-scale evidence-based studies of prescribing medicinal cannabis. Feedback on treatment-related progress, dosing and side-effects is becoming increasingly relevant, underscoring the importance of CMOS.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

-CMOS aims to recruit 20,000 patients nationwide over 5 years

-Patients will be recruited through medical centres with prescribing GPs or specialists nationwide

-Some subsidised medicinal cannabis products may be available for study participants

-Data is collected through progress-related questionnaires over a 12-month period, capturing data on efficacy, side effects, dosage, adherence to medication, changes to other concomitant medications and progressing health status

-Patients may be asked to complete separate surveys according to relevant indications to monitor conditions such as pain, anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disorders, and physical function

-Data is collected from both treating doctors and their patients to provide a complete view of their medical cannabis treatment journey

-Data collected will be periodically fed back to participating doctors to inform patient care and for teaching

-Patients are only identified by a unique study ID number

INTERESTED DOCTORS, CLINICS OR RESEARCHERS CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CMOS AND REGISTER THEIR INTEREST HERE.

Dr John Barlow, ACR Principal Investigator for CMOS: “Knowing which type of cannabis to prescribe is one step closer thanks to research underway at Applied Cannabis Research. Cannabis has been available legally for medicinal purposes since 2016, but with more than 100 cannabis products available in Australia, knowing what to prescribe and for what condition is becoming increasingly difficult. Through CMOS, we expect to be able to tell whether a particular cannabis product is effective in the treatment of a particular disease and give doctors guidance in their cannabis prescribing.”

Dr Melissa Benson PhD, ACR Advisory Board member added: “CMOS is going to be a really important study because it will bridge the knowledge gap in medicinal cannabis prescribing in Australia. Currently we have no detailed understanding of how medicinal cannabis products are prescribed here and what the treatment outcomes are. This study aims to solve this problem and in addition, the data collected will be an invaluable resource not only to researchers, but also to clinicians, patients and governments, who are all looking to understand the health impacts of medicinal cannabis.”

Di Mitchelmore, GM of Althea Australia: “As a market leading supplier of medicinal cannabis in Australia with more than 10,000 patients prescribed, Althea has an obligation to continuously research the use of medications across a number of important therapy areas. We are very proud to be partnering with Applied Cannabis Research for this observational study and look forward to the patient outcomes adding to the growing base of clinical evidence in support of medicinal cannabis.”

Joel Hardy, CEO of Cymra Life Sciences: “Cymra believes this type of large scale clinical research will accelerate Australian and international awareness with medical professionals, so that more patients with chronic pain can safely and effectively use pharmaceutical grade cannabis medicines to provide relief.”

Tyson Craig, Operations Manager of Cronos Australia: “Cronos Australia understands the importance of underpinning efficacy and safety of medicinal cannabis with evidence that can be used by healthcare practitioners. The CMOS study findings are intended to inform doctors Australia-wide that there are alternate therapies available for specific indications that patients are facing. This study will assist in making medicinal cannabis more accessible to patients as healthcare practitioners will be armed with the evidence when prescribing medicinal cannabis.”

Sholom Feldman, CEO of Cann Global Limited: “We are very excited to participate in CMOS, which is the biggest and most extensive medical cannabis trial ever undertaken in Australia. At present, I believe the biggest issue surrounding the legalisation of cannabinoid medicine is the lack of data for doctors to confidently prescribe cannabinoid-based products to their patients. We believe that this study will provide us with important clinical validation which should significantly increase both consumer confidence in pharmaceutical grade medical cannabis products, and the confidence of the medical industry to widely and responsibly adopt the prescribing of products to potentially naturally alleviate many ailments.”

Craig Cochran, CEO of Medcan Australia: "Medcan Australia is very excited to be a part of the CMOS study. Studies like CMOS are extremely important to build credible data around medicinal cannabis products and patient responses for various indications. As a leader in the Australian medicinal cannabis industry, Medcan Australia is proud to support the advancement of medicinal cannabis research both locally and internationally.”

Available for interview:
-Dr John Barlow, CMOS Principal Investigator for Applied Cannabis Research
-Patient prescribed medicinal cannabis
-Product companies upon request

Media Enquiries: AJD Media on contact@ajdmedia.com.au or call 0422238809

Applied Cannabis Research, a division of Southern Cannabis Holdings (SCH), is a specialist contract research organisation providing research expertise and services to medicinal cannabis companies. info@appliedcannabisresearch.com.au, (+61) 2 8294 6406 @CannabisApplied
SCH specializes in building and operating cannabis businesses in markets where cannabis is regulated as a pharmaceutical product. SCH companies include ACR, CA Clinics and FreshLeaf Analytics.

Nisha Sreenivasan
AJD Media
+61 422 238 809
nisha@ajdmedia.com.au
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