Cannabis News
House of Lords states “medical cannabis industry needs to invest in clinical trials”
Adding medical cannabis products to the NHS requires the industry to invest in clinical trials.
MHRA is ready to regulate medical cannabis, says Conservative Peer Lord Kamall, speaking to the House of Lords on Tuesday 12 July. But industry support is needed.
Lord Kamall, the parliamentary under-secretary of state for Technology, Innovation and Life Sciences, said cannabis companies must help fund clinical trials for medicinal cannabis.
MHRA approval is said to be a government priority, but many producers are “choosing not to” instead preferring unlicensed products.
Assuring new medicines are safe, effective and meet applicable standards is the responsibility of the MHRA. NICE can recommend that an MHRA-licensed drug be prescribed on the NHS once it has gained MHRA approval.
Lord Kamall said: “We know that there is a barrier because companies have not come forward to have it regulated or go through the clinical trials, but we are trying to work with those companies and encourage them to come forward.
“In fact, we have also found some NIHR research money available to help with those trials. My request to the industry is: ‘You make a lot of money out of this—please come forward and go through those trials with the MHRA’.
He added: “The MHRA is ready to regulate medicinal cannabis; it just needs companies to come forward and spend money on the trials.”
Immediate solutions needed for children with epilepsy
Politicians have renewed their calls for more access to medicinal cannabis in the wake of this news.
There have been only three prescriptions on the NHS since cannabis was legalized in November 2018.
Two “pioneering” randomized control trials (RCTs) into cannabis medicines for epilepsy were announced earlier this year by the NHS and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
Campaigners welcome these trials, but they are not suitable for children who are currently prescribed whole plant cannabis as a treatment for epilepsy. By participating in the trials, they would have to stop taking their current medication and risk receiving a placebo.
There is a continuing demand from these families that the government provide an immediate, temporary solution to cover private prescriptions until MHRA regulations and NHS access are in place.
