Medicinal cannabis for anxious, autistic kids? Medigrowth and uni trials for children aged 5 to 12
Medicinal cannabis could be used to treat kids from age five with ADHD and anxiety, with trials by Victorian universities underway, and claims Australia has a major advantage over the US in the area.
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Medicinal cannabis could be used to treat children from age five with ADHD and anxiety, with research trials by major Victorian universities underway.
Geelong-linked biotech company Medigrowth has teamed up with Deakin University, in collaboration with researchers at Swinburne and Monash, to test the effectiveness of it on kids.
The first two phases of a pediatric trial for treatment of anxiety in children with autism were completed last year.
The study, which is currently undergoing peer review, involved 29 children aged between five and 12-years-old.
Medicinal cannabis has become a booming industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars., and is tipped to grow even bigger.
Medigrowth, which supplies cannabis-derived products to thousands of Australian patients, has cultivated strong connections to the Geelong region, with a state of the art manufacturing and research facility, its Centre of Excellence, announced in 2023.
Chief executive Adam Guskich said research, such as that now being conducted had been a pillar of the company from the outset.
“Driving the legitimacy of cannabis medicines really requires a strong research and development (RND) foundation,” Mr Guskich said.
But the rapid growth of medicinal cannabis into a multimillion-dollar industry hasn’t been without push back, another reason Mr Guskich said research was vital.
“It’s just so important to have data like (the Deakin study) available,” he said.
Mr Guskich said more companies needed to push the boundaries of research and partnerships like Medigrowth’s with Deakin University were vital in gathering clinical evidence.
“Then we can really stop referring to medicinal cannabis and just start referring to effective and safe medicines,” he said.
He said Australia had an advantage over the US, in that the regulations and frameworks in place meant the industry was overseen by healthcare professionals.
“That’s something that in other parts of the world has been sidestepped by adult-use markets, for example,” he said.
Medigrowth began as a start-up in 2017 and in 2023 Geelong was announced as the location of the company’s Centre for Excellence.
The facility, described as a “collaborative RND and manufacturing space” is a 9000 sqm site, including a 3750 sqm space manufacturing, cultivation and labs.
In the future, there could be as many as 50 or 60 full-time staff on site in Geelong across
manufacturing, research, laboratory and cultivation roles, Mr Guskich said.
The company sees its Geelong site as a long-term, RND hub, with the potential for partnerships and projects with a global reach.
However, attracting external investment would be vital to build a project “of that magnitude”, Mr Guskich said.
By August 2023, the company had raised $1.2m in a previous crowd-funding effort.
The company has launched another equity-crowd-funding campaign through investment service Birchal, with expressions of interest opening last week.
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Originally published as Medicinal cannabis for anxious, autistic kids? Medigrowth and uni trials for children aged 5 to 12
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