First printed on Hashish Well being
Medical hashish sufferers made historical past in London with a first-of-its-kind, patient-led training occasion targeted on cannabis-based medicines, hosted on the Charterhouse.
The worldwide affected person organisation We, The Sufferers held its inaugural London occasion on Friday, 7 November, in collaboration with PatientsCann UK, with the objective of reframing how medical hashish is known and mentioned within the UK.
A Historic Setting and a Landmark First
The one-day discussion board happened on the Charterhouse, a centuries-old web site that performed a key function in the course of the Tudor interval earlier than evolving right into a charitable basis in 1611. For the primary time in its 650-year historical past, the venue permitted sufferers to medicate and vape medical hashish indoors.
Attendees heard from main clinicians and researchers together with Dr Rowan Thompson, Dr Mikael Sodergren, Julie Durrans and Dr Sameen Jalil, who introduced collectively affected person perception with medical and scientific experience.
AI, Actual-World Proof and the Endocannabinoid System
Dr Sodergren, Head of Imperial School London’s Medical Hashish Analysis Group and Chief Medical Officer at Curaleaf Worldwide, mentioned the continuing work his staff is conducting to collect and analyse real-world proof (RWE).
In accordance with Sodergren, the UK Medical Hashish Registry now contains knowledge from greater than 50,000 sufferers, making it the biggest world registry of its type. Info collected from the registry has supported over 30 peer-reviewed research and 60 scientific shows masking quite a few well being circumstances.
Whereas randomised managed trials stay important for validating efficacy, RWE gives sturdy security knowledge, he defined. His staff is now integrating synthetic intelligence (AI) to guage affected person outcomes, determine traits suited to particular therapies, and mannequin optimum cannabinoid combos for remedy.
“In the event you take into account the 140 cannabinoids we all know of, the variety of potential combos is immense. Testing each combine within the lab can be unimaginable inside our lifetimes,” mentioned Sodergren. “Machine studying helps slim the probabilities, figuring out probably the most promising formulations. It can not exchange lab validation, but it surely guides us in direction of the probably candidates.”
Dr Rowan Thompson expanded on the importance of the endocannabinoid system (ECS), noting its affect on a spread of circumstances together with persistent ache, despair and endometriosis. She highlighted that low ECS tone is linked with anxiousness, insomnia and infertility, whereas excessive ECS tone is related to persistent ache, cardiovascular points and weight problems.
Regardless of its medical significance, Sodergren famous that the ECS stays largely absent from medical curricula, even at main establishments.
