The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7186 p233-237
23 February 2002

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

News summary

No cannabis medicines before 2004

Prescribing cannabis-based drugs on the National Health Service will not be cleared until 2004–05, following the same sort of exhaustive tests as apply to any newly marketed drugs, the Prime Minister's press spokesman said this week.

He said that the Committee on Safety of Medicines would assess the efficacy of cannabis in tablet or spray form as a pain killer in the treatment of multiple sclerosis. He confirmed that the National Institute for Clinical Excellence will consider whether the drug should be prescribed through the NHS and, in particular, whether it would be cost-effective. "The same procedures will be followed as occur before any medicine can be authorised for public sale or prescription. That will not be before 2004 or 2005 at the earliest," he said.

Several hundred MS patients are currently taking part in clinical trials funded by the Medical Research Council and the results, expected by the end of the year, will be used by NICE in its appraisal. A departmental spokesman said that the NHS would need timely and clear guidance from NICE spelling out which patients would benefit most from such treatments.

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Lord Hunt said that the drugs would have to meet strict criteria and denied that the proposals suggested a softening of the government's attitude to cannabis. "I think it is important to make a distinction between drugs for MS pain relief and smoking cannabis for pleasure."

He added: "The Home Secretary will have to come to a view on these issues in the future, but what we are talking about here is a proper process, first for the licensing of medical products, and then decisions about whether the NHS should make those products available for its patients. If these pharmaceuticals are licensed for medical use it is of critical importance that NICE guidance is in place for the clinicians who will have to make decisions about their use."

For the MS Trust, Nicola Russell, said: "Many of the 85,000 people with MS in Britain suffer from muscle stiffness, spasticity and pain. For many of these people, cannabis has provided significant relief from these and other symptoms, seemingly without side-effects. We are hopeful that this latest announcement has brought the possibility of licensed cannabis-based medicines a step closer. NICE is to be asked to review the situation and we have some concerns that this may lead to a delay in these new medicines being made available to patients, as has been the case with beta interferons. Let us hope that the process can be streamlined and that we do not end up in the situation where yet another treatment is denied to people with MS."

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Department of Health said that Ministers are also looking at the possibility of using cannabis-based medicines for post-operative pain relief.