Sign In
Australia
Media release
From:
A renowned women’s health researcher and expert medicinal cannabis clinician are together leading the charge on medicinal cannabis studies for overlooked health conditions.
Current mainstream treatments generally fail to treat primary dysmenorrhea (period pain), endometriosis and diabetic peripheral neuropathy well, but three clinical trials run at the National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM) Health Research Institute aim to change that.
Associate Professor Mike Armour, Director of Research at the Institute, along with NICM Fellow Dr Orit Holtzman, are currently recruiting for participants who suffer from the conditions to take part in the studies.
Associate Professor Mike Armour said conditions such as period pain and endometriosis often lacked effective treatments, largely due to a historical lack of research on conditions that affect women.
“NICM is working to try and redress at least some of this imbalance,” he said.
“Period pain affects around 9 out of 10 young women in Australia, but despite this there has been a lack of new treatments, even though around half of young women report they only get partial relief from something like ibuprofen.
“Similarly, those with endometriosis often report they are unhappy with their current treatments because it doesn’t adequately reduce their symptoms, leading to significant reductions in quality of life, including impacting their studies, work and personal relationships.”
Associate Professor Mike Armour said his team hoped medicinal cannabis could be an effective treatment option to help improve their period pain or endometriosis symptoms.
They are looking for people in Australia over 20 who have a regular period pain for the primary dysmenorrhea study, and people over 18 who have a confirmed diagnosis of endometriosis for that study.
Dr Holtzman said diabetic peripheral neuropathy was a complication of uncontrolled or long-lasting diabetes, characterised by damage of the peripheral nervous system, which affects between 30 to 50 per cent of people.
“Neuropathic pain is a frequent, debilitating manifestation of diabetic peripheral neuropathy, referred to as diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain (DPNP),” she said.
“DPNP affects daily functioning and sleep, often results in anxiety and depression, and is associated with diminished quality of life.
“Management of DPNP is challenging and the pain often does not respond adequately to the currently available medication. Medicinal cannabis may offer relief to people who have not been helped by those medications.”
The DPNP study is an international randomised controlled trial which uses innovative technology from its sponsor Syqe – the only of its kind in Australia – that delivers medicinal cannabis via inhalation in a TGA-approved medical device.
To find out more about the period study visit:
NICM HRI | Medicinal cannabis for primary dysmenorrhea (period pain)
To find out more about the endometriosis study visit:
To find out more about the diabetic peripheral neuropathy study visit:
https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/nicm/research/clinical_trials/dpnpstudy
