Cannabis medicines mainly used against pain
Created: 06/07/2022, 14:51
Cannabis is blooming in the production of the pharmaceutical company Aurora in the Leuna chemical park.
© Hendrik Schmidt/dpa
Cannabis is not just a drug.
In individual cases, cannabis medicines have been available on prescription for five years.
Now there is a kind of conclusion.
According to a survey, cannabis as a medicine is used to treat chronic pain in three quarters of cases.
Other frequently treated symptoms are spasticity and anorexia or a certain type of weight loss (wasting), said the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices in Bonn on Wednesday.
Based on all cannabis medicinal products, the treated persons are on average 57 years old and the majority are female.
The use of cannabis medicinal products was regulated by law in 2017 for serious illnesses.
According to the Ministry of Health, the condition for the application to health insurance costs is that these funds have a noticeably positive effect on the course of the disease according to a doctor's assessment.
The results presented are part of a final report on an accompanying survey commissioned by the legislator.
The Federal Institute writes that anonymized data on around 21,000 treatments has been included in the evaluation since 2017.
Although doctors were obliged to transmit the anonymized data, this was actually done voluntarily because of the extensive anonymization.
Institute: Note the risk of abuse and dependency
The Federal Institute drew particular attention to one result of treatment with cannabis flowers: the average age of those treated was comparatively young at 45.5 years, more than two thirds were male.
Based on the content of the psychoactive substance THC, they were treated with a much higher dose and reported a euphoric effect three times more often.
"The risk of abuse and dependence when planning therapy with cannabis flowers" should be considered by doctors, the Federal Institute explained.
According to the study, chronic pain is the main reason for using a cannabis medicine.
Many of the treated symptoms are related to a tumor disease.
"In addition to pain, these are in particular nausea and vomiting as well as severe weight loss and loss of appetite," says the final report.
Side effects usually don't seem serious
After analyzing the data, the federal institute explained that side effects are comparatively common during therapy.
However, the side effects did not seem to be serious in most cases, since the dropout rate was comparatively low for this reason.
The main reason for the cancellation was a lack of or insufficient effect.
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The Federal Institute explained that the collection of treatment data from medical practice is valuable, especially in order to obtain information on the areas of application of cannabis medicinal products and on side effects of a therapy.
"Clinical studies must be carried out according to international standards to prove the effectiveness and safety of cannabis medicinal products," emphasized the authority responsible for the approval of medicinal products.
The accompanying survey in no way meets the requirements for such a clinical study and was never referred to as such.
It is positive that clinical studies with cannabis medicinal products have meanwhile also started in Germany.
The results should serve as a basis for the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) to decide, among other things, on possible health insurance benefits.
dpa