Celadon Pharmaceuticals has received final approval from the NHS for its first-of-its-kind non-cancer chronic pain clinical trial. The trial, to be conducted at Celadon’s private pain clinic, will involve up to 5,000 patients to support doctors’ prescriptions of cannabis-based medicines and potentially lead to reimbursement by the NHS.
The approval will mean that GPs will have the authority to prescribe the medicine to patients – after being limited for a number of years. Jon Robson, CEO and founder of Mamedica, the UK’s leading medical cannabis clinic that works closely with Celadon, comments on how today’s announcement marks a pivotal point in the UK’s development to broadening treatment options for patients and expanding the UK cannabis-based medicine market.
Since the government legalised medical cannabis in 2018, data has shown that around 1,000 patients have received prescriptions for the three licensed cannabis medicines prescribed through the NHS.
Meanwhile, there are believed to be upwards of 20,000 patients who are prescribed unlicensed cannabis products privately through clinics such as Mamedica. It was found in a recent survey that a staggering 73% of practising UK GPs are in favour of prescribing cannabis, but are unable to due to restrictive guidelines in the public healthcare system.
Allowing GPs to prescribe cannabis requires a simple amendment to section 4 of the 2018 Misuse of Drugs Regulations to state ‘specialist or general medical practitioner’.
