'The Whole Equation': UK Medicinal Cannabis Industry Group Expanding Its Mission to Accelerate Clinical Trials, Regulate CBD and Promote Clinical Education With New Members and Strengthening of Leadership Team

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Apr 10, 2019, 19:01 ET

LONDON, April 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- London-based Centre for Medicinal Cannabis (CMC) is extending its mission and remit to meet the demands of the fast-moving UK medical and wellbeing sector, with senior appointments and the on-boarding of new funding members.

Founded as the UK's first not-for-profit industry-led body by the team that guided Charlotte and Billy Caldwell in their campaign to change outdated drug laws last summer, the CMC was launched in December 2018 at the Academy of Medical Sciences alongside an acclaimed report laying out a comprehensive blueprint for the implementation of medicinal cannabis access in the UK.

This spring, the CMC is expanding beyond its original focus on policy, research and advocacy to accelerate clinical trials, shape future regulation of CBD products and promote clinical education.

Clinical Trials
The CMC is implementing a new service to actively engage industry players in clinical trials with the NHS, research universities and medical associations. This will generate new learning, accelerate access to medicine for patients and critically advance market authorisation of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMP). The CMC has two distinctive plans; one for childhood epilepsy, another for all other non-paediatric potential deployments of cannabis.

CBD
With the growing interest in other non-psychotropic compounds of cannabis, the CMC's remit is expanding beyond prescribed medications with the release of a major new study focused on the cannabidiol market in the UK. This report will assess the size, value and nature of CBD product offerings and current consumer habits of the UK market. It will identify the regulatory and legal changes needed to build an innovative and successful CBD industry. As part of this project, CMC members - primarily businesses with an innate and advanced expertise and understanding of the CBMP market- will have the opportunity to frame improved regulation for this rapidly growing industry, and how best to implement a voluntary quality kitemark.

Education
The CMC is partnering with SCRIPT, the innovative eLearning programme built by the University of Birmingham and Health Education England, to develop a module on 'Cannabis-Based Products for Medicinal Use' which will be available to all NHS staff via the NHS eLearning for Health platform, which is accessed by over 20,000 prescribers each year. The module will also be available on our own new dedicated medical education channel.

Partners
To support our expanded role, the CMC has added seven new members in 2019, Sativa Investments, Dragonfly, Charlotte's Web, Mile High Labs, Supreme Cannabis Company , The Cannabis Oil Company and BRAIN Bioceutical raising our total membership to 15, originating from five countries, all with a focus on patient needs and the advancement of scientific knowledge and application of cannabinoids in medicine.

Appointments
The CMC has now made eight senior appointments to the team, hiring former surgeon and senior NHS Executive Dr David Horn as Medical Director and ex-investment banker Chana Greenberg as Business Development Director. It has strengthened its clinical and strategic council with the addition of Dr David Casarett, Professor of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine and Chief of Palliative Care, Duke Health; Dr Matthew Brown, Consultant in Pain Medicine and Anaesthetics at The NHS Royal Marsden and Dr Daniel Couch, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, to the Council of Clinicians. Nick Davis, Chief Executive of leading law firm Memery Crystal, Dr Sarah Pontefract, Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics at the University of Birmingham and renowned healthcare innovator Dr Sepe Sehati have joined the advisory board.

"This immediately strengthens the CMC's capacity to shape the future of medicinal cannabis in the UK . We have adopted a 'whole equation' approach and will now be able to contribute across the spectrum of public policy, clinical research, medical education and public advocacy across all areas of regulation and law governing both high-THC unlicensed medicines (so-called CBMPs), and CBD products available without prescription to UK consumers," said CMC Strategic Counsel, Steve Moore.

Moore was speaking after the first CMC Board Summit when members where joined by senior officials from the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, the National Institute for Health Research and the Food Standards Agency ahead of the CMC Inaugural Annual Lecture delivered by Professor Iain McGregor, Academic Director of the Lambert Initiative, Sydney University.

Created as a think-tank and industry advocacy group, the CMC is guided by patient interests and the emerging evidence base, and works to advance public and political understanding to create the conditions for more patients to access cannabis-based medicines on the National Health Service (NHS), where treatment is not contingent on ability to pay.

For further information on the work of the CMC, membership enquiries, or to request to attend the CMC UK Policy Summit on June 27, 2019, please contact [email protected].

Notes to Editors

For further information on the contents of this release, please contact the CMC's Strategic Counsel, Steve Moore, on +44 (0) 7870 515025.
The UK rescheduled cannabis-based medicines on November 1, 2018 and permitted specialist clinicians to prescribe them to patients for the first time.
Steve Moore and Blair Gibbs - spokespersons for the CMC – are both available for media comment on the latest developments in the UK cannabis sector and the progress of medicinal cannabis for patients.
The CMC's UK Policy Summit on June 27, 2019 is invitation-only and designed for a clinician audience and specialist media.
Members of the CMC are all legal, fully-licensed companies operating in jurisdictions where cannabis for medicinal purposes is lawful. As members, they must abide by the CMC's Code of Conduct, and comply with all applicable laws in the United Kingdom.

Contact: Steve Moore, 07870515025, [email protected].

SOURCE Centre for Medicinal Cannabis