Santé Cannabis launches a 3-year Real-World Evidence Study

Posted on October 10, 2024

Tags: Medical Cannabis, Press Release, Research Study

With the support of medical cannabis leaders:

Aurora Cannabis, Tilray Medical and Vectura Fertin Pharma.

October 10th, 2024

Drawing from 10 years of clinic and research expertise since opening its doors in 2014, Santé Cannabis will lead recruitment of 3,000 patients into the study as they begin their medical cannabis treatment. The study started this week and will explore the outcomes of personalized medical cannabis treatment plans over a 12-month period including benefits, safety risks, medication substitution and cost analysis. Designed to be accessible to the diverse population of patients who benefit from therapeutic effects of cannabis products, the study model utilizes community-based methods and an adaptive, remote data collection.

Dr. Michael Dworkind is the Medical Director & Co-founder of Santé Cannabis and an Associate Professor in Family Medicine at McGill University. “While medical cannabis has been legally accessible in Canada for almost 25 years, there are still many unanswered clinical questions to support its therapeutic use for conditions including chronic pain, epilepsy, spasticity, sleep, anxiety and depression. This is such an important initiative to prioritize patients’ needs in the age of cannabis legalization.”

“This study will investigate outcomes of a new wave of medical cannabis product formats, including capsules, tablets and innovative sublingual products, as well as new cannabinoid formulations such as CBN and CBG,” states Dr. Lorne Wiseblatt, a Santé Cannabis clinician, family medicine and palliative care physician, “as clinicians we must uphold our responsibility to support our patients with safe and effective treatment options.”

Dr. Dworkind continues, “In my 10 years of practice at Santé Cannabis, I’ve assessed and supported thousands of patients to access medical cannabis treatments. I’ve seen patients from age 2 to 102 experience life-changing positive impacts from these exciting medicines. Canada should be a global leader in medical cannabis research and lead the charge to investigate potential substitution of harmful medications such as opioids, benzodiazepines and NSAIDs. I’m proud to be part of this group of Canadian leaders, to drive this community-based study forward and fill this leadership gap.”

The study is investigator-led and supported by grants from industry partners Aurora Cannabis, Tilray Medical and Vectura Fertin Pharma.

Organizations, researchers and healthcare professionals that are interested to participate as collaborators or knowledge users should reach out to Sante Cannabis

About Sante Cannabis

Santé Cannabis is a community-based centre of excellence in medical cannabis care and clinical research. Based in Quebec, Canada, Santé Cannabis operates at the intersection of clinical practice and R&D where innovators, researchers, healthcare professionals, patients and caregivers collaborate to find better solutions for the complex needs of patients living with chronic conditions. Delivering the best in clinical practice and support services to the medical cannabis community since 2014, the multidisciplinary team at Santé Cannabis defines the model for the future of access to complementary medicines.

Operating real-world evidence studies and clinical trials as both a Contract Research Organization and a clinical site, Santé Cannabis has developed an efficient, cost-effective research model to drive innovation with its partners while ensuring long-term commitment to patient safety, data integrity, regulatory compliance and accessibility. After 10 years of patient advocacy, Santé Cannabis continues to stand for patient access to medical cannabis and other complementary medicines, fighting for improvements to accessibility, public education, affordability, health professional education and product research initiatives.

Our achievements as Canada’s Centre of Excellence in medical cannabis:

A leading, multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses and support staff providing assessment and support to more than 20,000 patients since 2014
Canada’s first independently accredited cannabis Contract Research Organization (CRO)
Community-based clinical service trusted by more than 7,500 referring doctors
Recognized McGill University teaching site, operating Canada’s first elective program for Family Medicine residents on medical cannabis for chronic pain and palliative care
Global partnerships with leading academic, pharmaceutical, research, and non-profit organizations
Provided preceptorships, mentorship and other healthcare professional training to trainees from six international jurisdictions
Holds four Cannabis Research Licenses, facilitating clinical trials and observational studies across all clinical sites
Launched a patient-centred Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy program in 2024 to advance access to legal treatments, improve research & insurance coverage and to lead development of innovative supportive care models