Study Backs Marijuana for Cancer Patients

[BABY1]

Tweet A synthetic form of THC — the main active chemical in marijuana— may help patients with advanced cancer overcome problems with their senses of taste and smell and regain their enjoyment in eating, a pilot study showed.
Through 18 days of treatment, patients who received Marinol (dronabinol) had greater improvements in chemosensory perception compared with those who took a placebo, according to Dr. Wendy Wismer, of the University of Alberta's Department of Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Science in Edmonton, and colleagues.


And patients treated with the synthetic THC were more likely to report increased appreciation of food (73 percent versus 30 percent) and that food tasted better (55 percent versus 10 percent), the researchers reported online in Annals of Oncology.
"Our findings are important as there is no accepted treatment for chemosensory alterations experienced by cancer patients," Wismer and her colleagues wrote. "THC treatment may hold multiple clinical benefits for cancer patients, beyond its indication as a treatment for nausea and its effects on appetite."
They noted that the results — based on just 21 patients — require confirmation in larger studies.
"Our goal was to conduct a proof-of-principle study to provide direction for future trials," the researchers wrote.


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They conducted their phase II, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study at two centers in Canada, recruiting 46 adults with various types of advanced cancer who had chemosensory alterations and poor appetite.
Patients were randomized 24 to Marinol 2.5 mg and 22 to matching placebo oral capsules. They took one capsule a day for the first three days, and two a day thereafter, with the possibility of increasing the dose up to 20 mg/day.
Only 21 patients completed the study — 11 in the Marinol group and 10 in the placebo group. The dropouts came from withdrawn consent and discontinuation because of serious adverse events, which is not uncommon in advanced cancer populations, according to the researchers.
All analyses were based only on the patients who completed the study. Total chemosensory complaints decreased in both the Marinol and placebo groups, with no between-group differences.
However, the proportion of patients who reported that sensitivity to various tastes and to odors was "pleasantly stronger" was significantly greater in the Marinol group.
The proportion of patients who reported that their senses were better was also greater in the Marinol group (36 percent versus 15 percent).
Most active-treatment patients (73 percent) said they had a renewed ability to discriminate tastes, flavors, and food odors. In contrast, 60 percent of patients who received placebo said their senses had remained the same, and 20 percent said they had worsened.
Dronabinol increased appetite relative to both baseline and placebo with no patients in the active-treatment group reporting that their appetites had decreased.


Although total caloric intake improved to a similar degree in both groups, Marinol increased the proportion of calories consumed as protein.
"THC may increase food intake by stimulating the orosensory reward pathway, increasing motivation to eat energy-dense foods and enhancing food enjoyment," the authors wrote.
Dronabinol was also associated with improvements in sleep quality and relaxation compared with placebo, although quality of life improved to a similar extent in both groups.
As for side effects, nausea was unaffected by Marinol treatment, and there were no between-group differences in adverse events of any severity.
Most of the serious adverse events were unrelated to treatment, although one case of irregular heart beat in the Marinol group was considered possibly related.
The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Alberta Cancer Board, Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Solvay Pharma provided the drug, placebo, and third-party monitor, but was not involved in the study design or dissemination of the results.

[mtnmedic]

TweetI had a perscription for Marinol and it's real spendy, not a spendy as my other meds for $475 a bottle. thats why my Doc signs my card every year rather than write me a script for marinol. but it made me just lazy as hell too much CBD as compared to well, probally watch what I say, but my own strain. see I get the calming and a desire for food but never (in my experience) did it take away pain. I believe more so in being able to cope with the pain rather than numb it so to speak. it benefits those who dont want to inhale smoke (a guy with lung cancer hitting a bong)?