MediPharm Labs Initiates Clinical Trial for Use of Cannabis to Treat Chronic Kidney Disease Patients and Improve Quality of Life - Seite 2

According to the Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease, physical and psychological symptom burden in patients with advanced CKD is significantly debilitating; yet, it is often inadequately treated. Additionally, patients with CKD have limited life expectancy (estimated residual life span is approximately 8 to 4.5 years after dialysis initiation for those aged 40 to 64 years, respectively. Consequently, optimizing quality of life is of high priority. While patients may look to medical cannabis use in symptom management (including common symptoms encountered in advanced stages of CKD such as chronic pain, nausea and vomiting, anorexia, pruritus, and insomnia), its indications and long-term adverse health impacts are poorly established, creating a challenge for clinicians to support its use.

MediPharm Labs and OTT Healthcare will co-develop the study drugs that will be evaluated and name each Principal Investigator physician. The Principal Investigators will be accountable to MediPharm Labs for the direction of each study and will be chosen because of their leadership in the field of Nephrology. Before each study begins, all necessary approvals from relevant regulatory authorities including Health Canada will be obtained.

By providing tangible evidence of the benefits of medical cannabis, clinical trials of this nature set the stage for the development of safe, effective pharmaceutical-grade products.

“MediPharm Labs has established itself as a producer of pharmaceutical quality cannabis API and formulations. With our capabilities and research and development team, we are well positioned to support these trials and provide novel formulations including products from our portfolio and in general to expand our contribution to Nephrology,” said Mr. McCutcheon. “In broader terms, initiating this clinical trial demonstrates our growing maturity as a research-driven pharmaceutically focused company with global aspirations.”

MediPharm Labs is contributing to the advancement of medical cannabis in a variety of ways. In July 2020, it joined in a ground-breaking collaboration between University Health Network (“UHN”) and Medical Cannabis by Shoppers Inc. that will use blockchain technology to track medical cannabis products from seed to sale. In late 2019, it received its Cannabis Research Licence under Health Canada’s Cannabis Act and Cannabis Regulations to conduct controlled human administration trials of dried cannabis, cannabis extracts and concentrates, distillates, oil, edibles, topicals and terpenes at its state-of-the-art production facilities.