Prescriptions for cannabis-based drugs have increased by this amount in 2021
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According to a release from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), prescribing of unlicensed medicinal cannabis in the private healthcare sector increased by 935% from 2020 to 2021, with 15 vendors offering unlicensed medicinal cannabis-based products registered and more being evaluated .
The recent report, Safer management of controlled drugs: Annual update 2021, found that 37,634 items were prescribed by healthcare providers outside the National Health Service (NHS) between January and November 2021, compared with 3,636 items prescribed between January and November 2020 .
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In contrast, the NHS CBMP prescription rate in England over the same period was so low that no data could be reported. “The number of items prescribed by the NHS is so small that it could potentially compromise patient confidentiality,” the report said.
“Medicines licensed for cannabis-based medicines are routinely available on the NHS,” Pharmacy Secretary Maria Caulfield said last April, in response to an assessment of whether eligible individuals have adequate access to medicinal cannabis.
“However, clinical guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence indicate a clear need for more evidence to support routine prescribing and funding decisions for non-medically approved cannabis-based products,” added Caulfield. “Until that evidence base is built, prescribers will be reluctant to prescribe and the NHS will not be able to make routine funding decisions.”
Additionally, in October 2020, the National Institute for Health Research confirmed that no government-funded medical cannabis trials were taking place, despite a call for applications.
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“Since 2020, the number of patients accessing our specialized service has increased by 846%,” said Simon Erridge, Head of Research and Access at Sapphire Medical Clinics, in relation to the recent spike in CBMP prescriptions.
“NHS prescribing of unlicensed cannabis-based medicines has not experienced the same growth (…) that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published in 2019, which showed insufficient clinical benefit compared to the costs associated with these medicines showed,” concluded Erridge. “There is also a lack of randomized controlled trials demonstrating the efficacy of CBMPs compared to other approved drugs.”
This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.
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