Tag: Research

11/7/19--Results from a study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology may help explain why cannabidiol -- a chemical component of marijuana with no psychoactive properties -- reduces the frequency of seizures in patients with a severe form of epilepsy. The effect may be explained by a drug-drug interaction between cannabidiol and the anti-seizure medication clobazam. Read

9/30/19--The annotated genome allows, for the first time, the use of classical genetics and proteomics tools for the interrogation of these plants. Furthermore, the presence of an annotated genome within the NCBI Genome browser now permits any researcher with a web browser to manually examine or BLAST genetic sequences, vastly reducing the resources required to create primers to amplify genes from the plants or microbial contaminants that may affect them. Read

8/12/19--A University of Minnesota study examined whether eating high-fat foods after taking CBD increased the body’s absorption of CBD. The study tested whether fasting or a high fat meal has an effect when cannabidiol oral capsules were taken by patients. The study found CBD exposure is vastly increased when CBD is taken with high fatty foods; when compared to fasting, taking CBD with food increased the amount of CBD in the body by four-times and the maximum amount recorded in the participants’ blood by 14-times. Read

5/10/19--Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine are recruiting pregnant women to participate in their "Moms + Marijuana" study. The study will analyze whether prenatal marijuana use -- primarily to control nausea, and in the absence of alcohol, tobacco and any illicit drugs -- affects their child's brain development and cognitive, motor and social skills. Read

4/30/19--The goal of this study was to investigate Cannabidiol (CBD) hepatotoxicity in 8-week-old male B6C3F₁ mice. CBD exhibited clear signs of hepatotoxicity, possibly of a cholestatic nature. The involvement of numerous pathways associated with lipid and xenobiotic metabolism raises serious concerns about potential drug interactions as well as the safety of CBD. Read

3/18/19--The cannabis-derived product, CBD, is appearing in jelly beans — designed by David Klein, the man who created Jelly Belly candies. Klein told the website that he doesn’t want to make any unfounded health claims about his new product but is sure that it “will help the world.” Read

12/3/18--The National Institutes of Health announced today that enrollment for the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is now complete and, in early 2019, scientists will have access to baseline data from all ABCD Study participants. Read

3/3/19--Denver's only cannabis research center is proceeding with developing a seed-to-sale marijuana-tracking system that no one in the industry says they want. That tracking system was the mandate of a bill introduced into the Legislature during last year's session that lawmakers rejected twice, primarily because the state's marijuana industry loudly told them they don't want to add a foreign substance to their product. Read

12/13/18--Oral spray containing two compounds derived from the cannabis plant reduced spasticity compared with placebo in patients already taking anti-spasticity drugs. Read

11/19/18--The Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board says it has issued the state's first license to grow marijuana for research. Verda Bio Research in Seattle says it will be growing marijuana to conduct basic research on some of the plant's lesser-known compounds. Read

11/7/18--The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) intends to publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to solicit applications for research on minor cannabinoids and terpenes in the cannabis plant as it relates to pain and nociception. Read

9/12/18--The findings of a new study, published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, demonstrate a high level of understanding among people who use drugs regarding ways to prevent an overdose and some adoption of these methods, but the researchers assert that more needs to be done to prevent overdoses. Read

9/11/18--In an editorial published in Spectrum, Shaun Hussain, director of the Infantile Spasms Program at the University of California, Los Angeles Mattel Children’s Hospital, addresses the cumbersome regulations discouraging many talented and motivated researchers from investigating the potential value of marijuana. Hussain openly expresses his views about marijuana containing 100 mostly unexplored chemicals (known collectively as cannabinoids), any one of which could aid the treatment of not just epilepsy and autism but any number of conditions. Read

9/9/18--British scientists have found how a substance in the marijuana plant acts in the brain to reduce abnormal activity in patients at risk of psychosis. Their findings suggest that the substance could be used in a possible treatment for the condition. Read

9/3/18--Dr. Jeffrey Chen, director of the Cannabis Research Initiative at the University of California, Los Angeles, is spearheading a cannabis initiative team at UCLA to conduct a high-quality clinical study of the painkilling properties of pot — and perhaps stem the opioid epidemic. Dr. Chen says this initiative will be one of the first, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies in the world dedicated to the study of cannabis and pain. Before the study can begin, however, the researchers need approval from the Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration, along with funding. Read

8/9/18--The first controlled study examining marijuana as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder needs just a handful more U.S. military veterans to volunteer as test subjects before it can be completed, the study's nonprofit sponsor announced Thursday. Read

3/8/18--A police investigation targeting Brazil’s most prominent marijuana researcher Elisaldo Carlini, a retired professor of psychopharmacology at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), has ignited a wave of protest among scientists. They say that the move by authorities from the state of São Paulo threatens research freedoms at a time when science in the country faces severe problems because of draconian budget cuts. On March 1, researchers, students, and staff at Unifesp gathered on campus to express their support for Carlini and to protest against what they perceived to be an attack on the university. Read

12/28/17--GW Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:GWPH) announces that the FDA has accepted for filing with Priority Review its recently submitted New Drug Application (NDA) for Epidiolex (cannabidiol or CBD), an investigational treatment for seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) and Dravet syndrome, two rare and difficult to treat conditions of childhood-onset epilepsy. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act goal date for completion of the FDA review of the Epidiolex NDA is June 27, 2018. Read

12/12/17--A chemical found in marijuana, known as tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, has been found to potentially slow the process in which mental decline can occur in up to 50 percent of HIV patients, says a new Michigan State University study. Read

12/10/17--According to Melvin Livingston, lead author of a recent study and an assistant professor at UNT Health Science Center, marijuana use may reduce opioid-related deaths. The study, published in October, indicated legal recreational marijuana use reduced opioid overdose deaths in Colorado by 6 percent during a two-year-period beginning in 2013. But researchers only had two years of data on legal recreational marijuana use to draw from. Read

12/8/17--Raphael Mechoulam started his first marijuana project by walking into a police station and asking for some confiscated weed—for research purposes. Decades later, the 87-year-old Israeli chemist is known widely as the “father of marijuana research,” after he used those 5 kilos to discover THC (marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient) in the 1960s, and then later discovered the structure of CBD. Read

12/1/17--Alcoholic beverage sales fell by 15 percent following the introduction of medical marijuana laws in a number of states, according to a new working paper by researchers at the University of Connecticut and Georgia State University. The study adds to a growing body of evidence showing that marijuana availability can reduce alcohol consumption. Read

11/29/17--Frequent cannabis users enrolled in a Medication-Assisted Treatment for opioid addiction exhibit greater associations between pain and negative affects (anxiety and depression) compared with less-frequent users, according to findings from a study published in Addictive Behaviors. Because this cross-sectional study relied on self-reported data for cannabis use frequency, the investigators note it does not establish a causal relationship between the frequency of cannabis use and the association between pain and negative affect. Read

11/28/17--A synthetic cannabis-like drug in a pill was safe and effective in treating obstructive sleep apnea in the first large multi-site study of a drug for apnea funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study was conducted at Northwestern Medicine and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Read

11/27/17--University of New Mexico researchers say the legal availability of medical marijuana has the potential to reduce opioid use among chronic pain patients. The results indicate a strong correlation between enrollment in New Mexico’s medical marijuana program and cessation or reduction of opioid use. Read

11/6/17--GW Pharma's drug Epidiolex, a treatment that, in the company's words, "is a pharmaceutical formulation of purified cannabidiol (CBD), which is in development for the treatment of several rare childhood-onset epilepsy disorders," has completed its FDA New Drug Application to be marketed in the U.S. Additionally, it has been granted the FDA's rare pediatric-disease and orphan-drug designations, plus the potentially very helpful Fast Track designation. Read

11/2/17--The CannaVan is a cutting-edge, marijuana research vehicle being used by researchers to drive around federal drug laws, while studying participants who are regular marijuana users. The interdisciplinary lab studies brain science, health, and addiction. In short, when the van shows up, the participants enter sober and run through a battery of tests. Then they go back into their homes, get as high as they want, and return to the van for the same tests. Read

10/26/17--University of Florida Health doctors have begun a new study looking at the health effects of marijuana on people with HIV, including its potential as an alternative to addictive opioids. According to Dr. Robert Cook, the study’s lead investigator, the doctors will be monitoring the patients and their marijuana use. They will be exploring both negative and positive effects of using cannabis as medicine. Read

10/25/17--A pre-clinical study led by Indiana University scientists reports a promising step forward in the search for pain relief methods without the addictive side effects behind the country's current opioid addiction crisis. The research, which appears in the journal Biological Psychiatry, finds that the use of compounds called positive allosteric modulators, or PAMs, enhances the effect of pain-relief chemicals naturally produced by the body in response to stress or injury. Read

10/16/17--Marijuana legalization in Colorado led to a “reversal” of opiate overdose deaths in that state with opioid-related deaths decreasing more than 6% in the following 2 years, according to new research published in the American Journal of Public Health. Authors Melvin D. Livingston, Tracey E. Barnett, Chris Delcher, and Alexander C. Wagenaar stress that their results are preliminary, given that their study encompasses only two years of data after the state’s first recreational marijuana shops opened in 2014. Read

10/16/17--Officials in Colorado are skeptical about a new study that found nearly one fewer person per month died of an opioid overdose in Colorado after the start of legal cannabis sales in 2014 compared to before. The Denver Post reports that the paper’s authors stop short of saying that legalization caused the reversal, instead saying that legalization was “associated” with a decline in opioid deaths. The authors also caution that the study looks only at a small sliver in time because legalization is still relatively new. Read

9/16/17--Utah’s Sen. Orrin Hatch favors medical marijuana research, and he believes the administrative barriers need to be removed preventing legitimate research into medical marijuana, which is why he decided to roll out the Marijuana Effective Drug Study Act. Some complain that the bill Hatch favors is too little, too late. That, by emphasizing the need for research and regulatory rearrangment, the measure is not bold enough and could actually slow down progress toward allowing people in deep and immediate need to take advantage of the plant’s curative and palliative powers now. Read

9/15/17--In laboratory studies using mice, researchers have been able to switch off the impulse to drink alcohol by giving mice a drug that blocks a specific response from the immune system in the brain. This research is one of the first of its kind to show a link between the brain's immunity and the motivation to drink alcohol at night. Read

9/11/17--ASU researcher Madeline Meier, who has been on the forefront of medical-marijuana health research, confirmed that Arizona State University wants to study individuals who consume cannabis legally as Arizona medical-marijuana patients. However, what is unclear is exactly what the study is trying to determine, beyond the effects of different "types" of cannabis. Read

8/24/17--Two new studies have been launched to determine how marijuana could possibly better treat pain. One study is from the federal government, which still lists marijuana as a Schedule I illegal drug, and the other is from the National Football League, which can still suspend players for marijuana use. A majority of Americans already think it should be legal for medicinal purposes, and 29 states already have legalized it, but federal law has kept the number of studies in this country limited. Read

8/25/17--Dale Quigley, deputy coordinator of the National Marijuana Initiative, or NMI, has asked Massachusetts health officials for data on the age, gender, and medical condition of the state’s approximately 40,000 registered medical marijuana patients. Quigley is a former police officer in Colorado with a long history of speaking out against legalization. Read

8/21/17--Researchers at the VA Portland Health Care System published two studies that reviewed previous analyses and evaluations of the effects of marijuana on treating chronic pain and PTSD. Cannabis advocates are criticizing the Department of Veterans Affairs for wasting time and resources on recently published research that produced inconclusive results on the effects of medical marijuana in treating pain and post-traumatic stress disorder. Read

8/21/17--According to a new study conducted by a Canadian researcher at the University of Victoria, “a compelling amount of evidence” indicates that marijuana could be used as an alternative to opioids, creating “significant positive impacts on public health and safety.” The study describes a “substitution effect” in states with medical marijuana, suggesting that people who want to quit using prescription opioids and other powerful pharmaceuticals have already started switching to cannabis. Read

8/22/17--Although recent studies from the Department of Veterans Affairs suggest that cannabis is ineffective in the treatment of PTSD and chronic pain, soldiers of the scientific community agree that this research is the same “worthless,” rehashed noise that the federal government has been trying to sell the general public for decades. Read

8/12/17--The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding the first-ever, long-term study to research the impacts of medical marijuana on opioid use. The NIH has awarded a five-year, $3.8 million grant to researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System to study whether medical marijuana reduces opioid use among adults with chronic pain, including people with HIV. Read

8/7/17--New research suggests that an investigational neurological treatment derived from cannabis may alter the blood levels of commonly used antiepileptic drugs. Read

8/7/17--New research published in Epilepsia, a journal of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), suggests that an investigational neurological treatment derived from cannabis may alter the blood levels of commonly used antiepileptic drugs. Read

7/12/17--Rep. Andy Harris, M.D. is known as legal marijuana's greatest foe, but he also recognizes that the federal prohibition on all forms of marijuana has left the nation void of serious science on the plant that people are now legally smoking from coast to coast. So, he has teamed up with some of the more pro-pot lawmakers to push legislation that loosens the classification of weed so that universities, hospitals, and the private sector can study marijuana without fear of getting in trouble with the feds. Read

8/1/17--The ongoing opioid crisis is at the intersection of 2 substantial public health challenges: improving the treatment of pain and minimizing the harms that can arise from use of opioid medications. Recent Viewpoints in JAMA highlighted this tension. In one article, the authors emphasized that “there is no evidence that opioids are effective in chronic pain conditions and significant evidence that they cause harm.” In another article, the authors expressed dismay that federal policy has “disproportionately focused on reducing opioid use rather than increasing pain relief.” Read

6/27/17--Researchers have identified a brain region involved in cocaine addiction. The findings could lead to targeted drugs or improved behavioral treatments for substance addiction, including opioid dependency. Read

6/20/17--Utah lawmakers gave state colleges and other institutions a green light to study the medical impacts of the drug with the hope of having comprehensive data by next year. However, the studies would likely take years, requiring scientists to navigate layers of bureaucracy that can delay and even discourage research. The slowdown is due to marijuana being considered a Schedule I drug by the federal government. Read

6/17/17--Lehigh University intends to partner with one of the potential growers in the Lehigh Valley to study the effect of the drug on children with autism. While some parents of autistic children have preached the benefits of cannabis for years, Lehigh's Dean of Education Gary Sasso confirmed that the university wants to collect some of the first quantitative data on the controversial drug therapy. Pennsylvania is one of the few states that specifically allows children with autism to be treated with cannabis. Read

6/14/17--Utah lawmakers balked again this year about passing a broad medical marijuana law. Instead, they gave state colleges and other institutions a green light to study the medical impacts of the drug with the hope of having comprehensive data by next year. However, studies would likely take years, requiring scientists to navigate layers of bureaucracy that can delay and even discourage research. Read

5/26/17--Results from a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine revealed that children with Dravet syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy, had fewer seizures after taking a daily oral solution of cannabidiol, which does not have the psychoactive properties of marijuana. Over a 14-week treatment with cannabidiol, convulsive seizures dropped from a monthly average of 12.4 to 5.9, and during the study seizures stopped completely in 5 percent of patients taking cannabidiol. Read

5/24/17--The editors of Epilepsy & Behavior have produced a special issue that presents an in-depth assessment of the potential of cannabinoids for the effective treatment of epilepsy. Guest editors Jerzy Szaflarski, MD, PhD, Director of the Epilepsy Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Orrin Devinsky, MD, Director, Epilepsy Center, New York University Langone Medical Center hope these articles help stimulate greater understanding and more studies to scientifically define the potential benefits and harms of cannabis-based therapies for epilepsy. Read

5/19/17--Researchers at Washington State University need volunteers for a study to develop a breathalyzer for pot. If successful, the study could aid in the development of a field procedure for the detection of the presence of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, and eventually help prevent vehicle accidents or deaths due to drug-impaired driving. The study is sponsored by the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. It will be conducted in conjunction with the Pullman Police Department. Read

5/9/17--British biotechnology firm Quay Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and its American partner Axim Biotechnologies Inc. have received permission from British regulators to pursue a cannabis-based treatment for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Axim has been working to develop its cannabis-based MedChew Rx pharmaceutical chewing gum into a drug to treat pain and spasticity in MS patients. The gum is a formulation of 5 mg of cannabidiol and 5 mg of tetrahydrocannabidiol. The company believes the cannabis gum could have multiple indications, but for now they are focused on multiple sclerosis. Read

3/31/17--Eighteen months after joining a study on using marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, Johns Hopkins University has pulled out without enrolling any veterans. A Johns Hopkins spokeswoman said the university’s goals were no longer aligned with those of the administrator of the study, the Santa Cruz-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). A spokesman for MAPS said the dispute was over whether to openly challenge policy that say medical cannabis research must rely on federally-grown marijuana. Read

4/25/17--Researchers have found that chili peppers and marijuana may reduce gut inflammation. Capsaicin - the compound that gives chili peppers their heat - targets a receptor in the gut that produces a compound called anandamide, which is chemically similar to the compounds in marijuana. Read

4/11/17--As countries wrestle with the legal status of marijuana, Israel is carving a place for medical cannabis research, partly fueled by the world's highest percentage of financial resources devoted to research. It was among the first countries to legalize medical marijuana, while remaining illegal for recreational use, and is one of just three countries with a government-sponsored cannabis program. Read

4/4/17--A growing body of research suggests that cannabidiol (CBD) can reduce seizures in individuals with epileptic disorders, reducing the damage caused by these diseases as well as improving quality of life. The DEA is creating a separate classification for scheduling cannabis extracts, and specifically mentioned CBD as a potential example. The resulting legal framework would seem to allow CBD-derived medications to move to a less restrictive schedule while leaving marijuana on Schedule I. Read

4/3/17--Israeli researchers are aiming to corner the rapidly burgeoning new global market in medical marijuana. Their goal is not simply to take part in a hugely lucrative market, but to transform the medical marijuana industry into a serious endeavour of pharmaceutical research, producing new strains and drugs able to alleviate the symptoms of of cancer, Parkinson’s disease, insomnia, and other conditions. Read

3/24/17--Insys Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company that was one of the chief financial backers of the opposition to marijuana legalization in Arizona last year, received preliminary approval from the Drug Enforcement Administration this week for Syndros, a synthetic marijuana drug, to treat nausea, vomiting, and weight loss in cancer and AIDS patients. Read

3/29/17--As marijuana gains footing as a treatment for chronic and neuropathic pain, legalization's biggest villain is, perhaps, the pharmaceutical industry, according to an Esquire article by Ricardo Baca. Recent news could indicate a tipping point in Big Pharma's quest to squash voter-approved pot-legalizing initiatives while preserving the medical marijuana market for its own products. Read