APOLLO APPLIED RESEARCH A TRAILBLAZER IN MEDICAL CANNABIS RESEARCH
Bryan Hendin co- founded a pain clinic in Toronto in 2012, hoping to ease patients’ suffering. He had no idea that he would become a trailblazer in the medical cannabis space, overseeing groundbreaking research.
As that pain clinic thrived, more patients walked through the door singing the praises of cannabis. They had been using it to treat pain associated with numerous conditions, ranging from chronic headaches to herniated discs and arthritis. But they were frustrated. Medical cannabis was already legal but top pain specialists wouldn’t prescribe it. There wasn’t’ enough scientific evidence to support these patients’ claims.
That spurred Hendin to action. He set out to “prove or disprove the effectiveness of cannabis as a treatment,” he recalls. “It just felt like something I had to do.”
In 2013, he established Apollo Applied Research to conduct studies looking at the possible benefits of medical cannabis and determining the most effective strains to treat various medical conditions. Soon, a small group of the top academic pain doctors were willing to help Hendin start conducting Apollo’s clinical research.
To accelerate the research, Hendin opened a clinical division of Apollo called Apollo Cannabis Clinic in 2014. Starting with less than a handful of doctors who would prescribe, to date, over 100 doctors across Canada support Apollo. Today, Apollo is not only conducting cutting- edge clinical re- search on chronic pain, but also helping patients directly.
Apollo’s findings, all reviewed and supported by physicians, have been published in peer- reviewed medical journals. The Apollo team, which includes seven full- time researchers, regularly presents at medical seminars and conferences. Earlier this year, Apollo’s research was presented at NYU Grand Rounds, Department of Pain.
These findings have convinced more doctors to refer patients to Apollo and have made more patients open to using cannabis to treat their pain. In the past three years, more than 10,000 patients have been prescribed medical cannabis for various conditions at Apollo.
Each patient has received a personalized treatment plan and has met with a patient educator. “Not all strains of cannabis are the same. We’re learning every day which strains work for which conditions and for which patients,” says Hendin. “We love passing on to patients the knowledge we gain through our research.”
What accounts for Apollo’s success? “We’re Canada’s original cannabis research clinic,” Hendin explains. “We’ve set the gold standard for [cannabis] therapy.”
In one of Apollo’s most am- bitious undertakings to date, it launched a study analyzing the effects of medical cannabis on patients with PTSD. Through the study, which was launched last year, researchers hope to find ways to lessen PTSD symptoms including flashbacks nightmares, estrangement, detachment from others, paranoia and sleep disturbance.
“This research study is a passion project and it is timely, given the national attention that is being given to veterans, first responders and to mental health awareness overall,” says Hendin. “There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence and now it’s time for validated research.” In preliminary findings of Apollo’s PTSD study, Apollo PTSD patients saw a 77 per cent improvement in PTSD symptoms, such as social functioning.
“We’ve changed the lives of so many people,” says Hendin. “It’s truly incredible.”
To learn more about Apollo’s research or eligibility requirements for medical cannabis, please email info@apolloresearch.ca or call toll free at 1-877-560-9195.
In preliminary findings, Apollo PTSD patients saw a 77 per cent improvement in PTSD symptoms, such as social functioning.