ANSM unveils list of hospitals involved in French therapeutic cannabis trials

A few hours after the Official launch of medical cannabis trials in France, The Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des Produits de Santé (ANSM), the French national authority for therapeutic drugs, has unveiled the list of reference structures that will be able to deliver cannabis for therapeutic use.

200 centers at launch

Distributed according to pathologies included in the trial, The 200 hospital centers are spread across 170 hospitals in mainland France, Martinique, French Guiana and Réunion. The Ile-de-France and Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes regions have the most participating facilities.

The reference structures are hospital departments specializing in the treatment of the pathologies in question. Selected by ANSM in conjunction with the relevant learned societies, they have agreed to take part in the trial on a voluntary basis.

The list is available here and current as of March 26, 2021.

Medical cannabis may be dispensed for five indications: neuropathic pain refractory to accessible treatments, certain forms of severe, drug-resistant epilepsy, certain intractable symptoms in oncology, certain palliative situations and painful spasticity accompanying certain diseases of the central nervous system.

Trained beforehand via an e-learning module, volunteer healthcare professionals in selected facilities will integrate patients into the trial, draw up their first prescription for cannabis-based medicines and deliver their treatment in the form of oil for oral use and dried flowers for inhalation after vaporization, available from June.

Treatment renewal and dispensing can then be carried out by these healthcare professionals, or by general practitioners and dispensing pharmacists. All healthcare professionals taking part in the trial must have undergone training beforehand.