Cannabis could help cancer patients

A cannabis drug may help to extend the lives of pancreatic cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, new research suggests.

Scientists found mice with the disease survived almost three times longer if they were treated with cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) alongside chemotherapy.

Lead researcher Professor Marco Falasca, from Queen Mary University of London, said it was “a remarkable result”.

The study examined the impact of CBD on mice with pancreatic cancer receiving common chemotherapy drug Gemcitabine. Mice treated with this combination of drugs had a median survival of 56 days, compared to 20 days for those left untreated, while mice receiving chemotherapy alone lived for a median 23.5 days.

Professor Falasca said: “Cannabidiol is already approved for use in clinics, which means we can quickly go on to test this in human clinical trials. If we can reproduce these effects in humans, cannabidiol could be in use in cancer clinics almost immediately.

Given the five-year survival rate for people with pancreatic cancer is less than seven per cent, the discovery of new treatments is urgently needed.”