Oral Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2021

Medicinal cannabis for cancer patients – what are clinical trials telling us? (#65)

Peter Grimison 1
  1. Chris O'Brien Lifehouse, Camperdown, NSW, Australia

Medicinal cannabis has become much more readily available to Australian cancer patients over the last 5 years, however access barriers persist include lack of TGA-approved products, lack of willingness to prescribe by practitioners, and lack of robust evidence in many indications. This presentation will review evidence generated from recent and ongoing clinical trials of medicinal cannabis for cancer indications, with a focus on the pilot results of the ongoing cannabis CINV randomised trial for prevention of chemotherapy–induced nausea and vomiting (conducted by the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre at the University of Sydney, and funded by NSW Health.) The potential detrimental impact of medicinal cannabis on immunotherapy will be discussed. Knowledge gaps that would benefit from new high quality clinical trials will be highlighted.