Sativex: A clinical test reduces the mortality rate of brain tumors

GW Pharmaceuticals announces results positive Phase II results of their clinical trial on recurrent glioblastoma, one of the most common and particularly aggressive brain tumors, with Sativex.

The Glioblastoma (GBM) is a malignant tumor affecting the brain. The tumor spreads rapidly, causing headaches, nausea, blurred vision, personality disorders and convulsions. Life expectancy is very short for GBM patients: only 28.4% survive the first year, and 3.4 % after 5 years.

Sativex received its marketing authorization in France in 2013 to treat spasticity in multiple sclerosis, and is currently in phase II in spasticity due to cerebral palsy.

Phase II clinical trial

This clinical trial was conducted on 21 patients with GBM, with a treatment regimen of Sativex. 12 patients received treatment, while 9 received placebo. The mean time to death was 550 days in the treatment group, compared with 369 days in the placebo group. 83 % of patients taking the substance survived at least one year, whereas the survival rate for placebos was only 53%. The treatment was apparently well tolerated by the patients' bodies and did not alter their vital parameters.

«The results of this controlled study suggest that adding a combination of THC and CBD to patients on temozolomide produces significant improvements in survival compared with placebo, and this is a good signal of potential efficacy,» says Susan Short, Professor of Neuro-Oncology at the Institute of Cancer and Pathology, Saint James University Hospital, Leeds. «This study could open up new possibilities for future treatment.

Company CEO Justin Gover says: «These encouraging signals prove to us that cannabinoids will have a role to play in oncology. We will certainly extend this research to other forms of cancer.»

However, this new clinical test in no way cures glioblastoma. According to these clinical trials, only life expectancy is prolonged with treatment.

This is good news for GW Pharmaceuticals, which had failed to achieve clinical success with a treatment for ulcerative colitis in October 2014.