Clinical Trials
Can medical cannabis become the next dementia medication UK researchers ask?
King’s College London is conducting a study to explore the effectiveness of Sativex in treating behavioural symptoms as a dementia medication UK, according to the Daily Express.
A cannabis-based drug currently used to treat multiple sclerosis may ease agitation and aggression in people with dementia, according to lead researcher Chris Albertyn. Alternatives to antipsychotic medications are urgently needed.
In spite of the fact that those drugs have sedative effects, Sativex is thought to be able to increase pleasure and reduce distress while causing fewer unwanted side effects. Mr Albertyn said: “We all have cannabinoids in us already which regulate our internal balance.
“When we feel pain, hungry, sleepy or our mood fluctuates, those are regulated by this internal endocannabinoid system which essentially brings us back to the middle anytime that we’ve gone to an extreme.
“That’s the target for us because it’s implicated in all these behavioural and psychological fluctuations that we have naturally. It’s just a matter of reducing the extremes.”
During the pandemic, many non-drug therapies, such as social groups, music sessions, or massage therapy, were stopped, and antipsychotic drugs were given to more dementia sufferers.
King’s College London is leading the trial, which is funded by Alzheimer’s Research UK, and plans to recruit 60 patients living in care homes.
Dementia medication UK: Medical cannabis promising good results
Having worked on trials in care homes for several years, Mr Albertyn was inspired to investigate Sativex after speaking with families and staff. He explained: “We discovered that there were some relatives in care homes that were using CBD oils, putting them into creams, drinks or tinctures, and self-experimenting to help with things like sleep, pain, agitation and aggression.
“It led me to dig deeper. There’s a real growing early evidence base for cannabinoid medications to be promising targets in this area.”
In Sativex, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are both present in equal amounts. A limited number of patients with multiple sclerosis suffering from painful muscle spasms are prescribed it on the NHS in England.
There is, however, a postcode lottery in access to it, with some areas prescribing it while others don’t.
Mr Albertyn hopes the drug could eventually be used outside care homes if the study proves effective next spring.
He bemoaned the fact that dementia medication UK research was not comparable to other conditions. He said: “Dementia costs more than heart disease and cancer combined to wider society and yet it gets only a fraction of the funding investment going into research for new treatments.
“The one thing we’ve seen from Covid is what the clinical research ecosystem can do when patients and society are engaged. We can do the same for dementia, we just need that thrust.”
