From the extracts of cannabis new hope against pancreatic cancer: a study conducted on mice has demonstrated how CBD, combined with chemotherapy, can triplicate survival of the animals.

The study conducted in collaboration with the Queen Mary University of London and the Curtin University in Australia, was published in the magazine Oncogene.

The combination of CBD e gemcitabine, an anti-cancer drug, inhibited the proliferation of the tumour cells in mice and opposed mechanisms involved in the development of gemcitabine resistance in vitro and in vivo.  

It’s evident how this research can open new horizons to the treatment of patients affected by a disease of which the life expectancy, which is about 5% in the first five years, hasn’t seen substantial changes in the last 40 years.  

“Our data – the authors of the study affirm – indicate that the combination of CBD and gemcitabine, currently both approved for medical use, could be tested in clinical studies as a new and promising treatment to improve the outcome of the disease for the patients”.

"This is a noteworthy result - professor Marco Falasca, guiding the Research team of the London Athenaeum, tells us – We saw mice with pancreatic cancer survive almost three times more often if a substance extracted from cannabis was added to their chemotherapy treatment".

Cannabidiol is already approved for clinical use, he notes, "and this means that we could rapidly pass to clinical tests on patients. If we are able to replicate the same results on individuals, cannabidiol could enter into use almost immediately without having to wait the usual time necessary for approval of each new drug by regulatory authorities ".

Therapeutic Cannabis and CBD in the field of oncology

Therapeutic Cannabis and CBD in particular can have areas of application also in the field of oncology.

“As a preclinical research laboratory - Massimo Nabissi,  researcher and professor at the University of Camerino, interviewed in our Blog, states  - we have carried out various studies related to the effect of THC and CBD in glioblastoma and multiple myeloma. The date we obtained were the topic of scientific publications and have contributed to the implementation of the first clinical experimentation in patients with glioblastoma. Regarding multiple myeloma, the data we obtained have been object of interest and taken into consideration for the implementation of clinical studies, currently in phase of organization”.

Encouraging studies which should be considered in the complexity of the approach to tumour pathologies, pathologies which, due to their nature, are very different from each other and require targeted therapies.

“Cannabinoids demonstrated (in preclinical studies) – Nabissi continues – to work in various tumour pathologies (lung, breast, glioblastoma, pancreas, prostate, multiple myeloma, melanoma), acting as an anti-tumour agent and improving the biological response to chemotherapy, when used in combination with cannabinoids”.

But the professor is clear in underlining how “when one talks or publishes about ‘the molecule curing cancer’, whichever this may be, this is a little correct scientific way of explaining a scientific result and hence the risks to delude patients affected by tumours”.

“I recommend to ask Cannabis prescribing physicians for information, who are present, in Italy, throughout the national territory" doctor Massimo Nabissi concludes.