Cannabis drug trial for brain tumours gets go-aheadPosted by On

A ‘world first’ trial assessing a cannabis-based drug to treat an aggressive form of brain cancer is to go ahead, a charity has announced.

Members of the public backed an appeal by the Brain Tumour Charity to raise £400,000 to fund the three-year trial.

Olympic champion Tom Daley also backed the campaign.

The gold medal-winning diver’s father Robert died aged 40 from a brain tumour in 2011.

The study, led by an expert at the University of Leeds, will look at whether adding Sativex – an oral spray containing cannabinoids – to chemotherapy could extend life for people diagnosed with a recurrent glioblastoma.

The trial will begin recruiting 230 patients at 15 hospitals across the UK early next year.

The condition is the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer, and around 2,200 people are diagnosed each year in England alone.

Even after intensive treatment average survival is only 12 to 18 months after diagnosis, the Brain Tumour Charity said.

If the trial proves successful, researchers hope it could represent one of the first additions to NHS treatment for glioblastoma patients in more than a decade.

It will measure whether adding Sativex to chemotherapy extends the overall length of patients’ lives, delays the progression of their disease, or improves quality of life.

The principle investigator on the study, Susan Short, professor of clinical oncology and neuro-oncology at the University of Leeds, said: ‘The treatment of glioblastomas remains…

Original Author Link click here to read complete story..

A ‘world first’ trial assessing a cannabis-based drug to treat an aggressive form of brain cancer is to go ahead, a charity has announced.

Members of the public backed an appeal by the Brain Tumour Charity to raise £400,000 to fund the three-year trial.

Olympic champion Tom Daley also backed the campaign.

The gold medal-winning diver’s father Robert died aged 40 from a brain tumour in 2011.

The study, led by an expert at the University of Leeds, will look at whether adding Sativex – an oral spray containing cannabinoids – to chemotherapy could extend life for people diagnosed with a recurrent glioblastoma.

The trial will begin recruiting 230 patients at 15 hospitals across the UK early next year.

The condition is the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer, and around 2,200 people are diagnosed each year in England alone.

Even after intensive treatment average survival is only 12 to 18 months after diagnosis, the Brain Tumour Charity said.

If the trial proves successful, researchers hope it could represent one of the first additions to NHS treatment for glioblastoma patients in more than a decade.

It will measure whether adding Sativex to chemotherapy extends the overall length of patients’ lives, delays the progression of their disease, or improves quality of life.

The principle investigator on the study, Susan Short, professor of clinical oncology and neuro-oncology at the University of Leeds, said: ‘The treatment of glioblastomas remains…



Source link

News

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.