Research focuses on medicinal cannabis and effects on appetite in cancer patients

Researchers are investigating how medicinal cannabis could help patients with advanced cancer eat again, with nine out of 10 patients affected by appetite loss.

Researchers are looking into the potential of medicinal cannabis to help cancer patients at the end-of-life stage who have lost their appetite.

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Researchers from southwest Sydney are looking into the potential of medicinal cannabis to help patients with advanced cancer regain their appetite.

South Western Sydney Local Health District clinical trial director and practising palliative medicine specialist Professor Meera Agar said there was “a lot of consumer interest” around medicinal cannabis and how it could be used for symptom control.

Speaking at the Health Beyond Research and Innovation Showcase in Warwick Farm this week, Prof Agar said clinical trials were needed to understand how to harness the potential of medicinal cannabis to help patients with advanced cancer.

Professor of Palliative Medicine, IMPACCT (Improving palliative, aged and chronic care through clinical research and translation) at University of Technology Sydney Meera Agar. Pictured at the Health Beyond Research and Innovation Showcase 2019.

“Nine out of 10 patients at the end of their lives experience profound loss of appetite and we have very limited treatment options and the ones we do have either have very poor effect or have quite significant toxicities.

“I think it’s that consumer experience and interest (that) was really a driver to change a really profound symptom that’s not just the biomedical symptom. It’s a symptom that affects our lives.

“Eating is one way that we enjoy time together — that we share time with family and if you take that from someone at the end of their lives it has a profound effect on themselves but also on the people around them,” she said.

The clinical trial was designed with input from patients and will look at how to maximise the benefits and minimise harm associated with cannabinoids.

Clinical trials have been designed to investigate how medicinal cannabis can help patients regain their appetite. Picture: Megan Slade

Presently, loss of appetite in patients with advanced illness can be treated with either corticosteroids or a hormone-based treatment to stimulate appetite.

However, corticosteroids have a range of side effects, including weakening muscles and causing diabetes, while the latter is associated with a risk of getting clots.

Prof Agar said the therapies were “not optimal by any shape of the imagination”.

She said those who used recreational cannabis often experienced the “munchies”, or an urge to eat.

“Can we use that munchies effect of the actual chemical and then get that same effect in people who have very abnormal appetite pathways? We need to test that. Biologically, it’s very plausible. It’s how you apply that in the clinic is the next step.

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“In palliative care, you have a very short time to get benefits really quickly and you don’t want to do that with toxicity and so the trials are really fundamental to help clinicians know how to advise patients and use the right formulation delivered in the right way, just like any other area of medicine.”

Prof Agar said patients at the end of life were “really interested” in participating in research.

“I think really it’s a testament to people that even when they’re facing an advanced illness they feel able and willing to make a huge contribution to improving care for others.”