MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (MS)

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic degenerative disease of the central nervous system that causes inflammation, muscular weakness and a loss of motor coordination. Over time, MS patients typically become permanently disabled and, in some cases, the disease can be fatal.

Clinical and anecdotal reports of cannabinoids' ability to reduce MS-related symptoms such as pain, spasticity, depression, fatigue, and incontinence are plentiful in the scientific literature.

Other studies suggest that cannabinoids may also inhibit MS progression in addition to providing symptom management. Writing in the July 2003 issue of the journal Brain, investigators at the University College of London's Institute of Neurology reported that administration of the synthetic cannabinoid agonist WIN 55,212-2 provided "significant neuroprotection" in an animal model of multiple sclerosis. "The results of this study are important because they suggest that in addition to symptom management, ... cannabis may also slow the neurodegenerative processes that ultimately lead to chronic disability in multiple sclerosis and probably other disease," researchers concluded. Spanish researchers in 2012 reported similar findings, documenting that "the treatment of EAE mice with the cannabinoid agonist WIN55,512-2 reduced their neurological disability and the progression of the disease."

Investigators have also reported that the administration of oral THC can boost immune function in patients with MS. "These results suggest pro-inflammatory disease-modifying potential of cannabinoids [for] MS," they concluded.

Clinical data reported in 2006 from an extended open-label study of 167 multiple sclerosis patients found that use of whole plant cannabinoid extracts relieved symptoms of pain, spasticity and bladder incontinence for an extended period of treatment (mean duration of study participants was 434 days) without requiring subjects to increase their dose.  Results from a separate two-year open label extension trial in 2007 also reported that the administration of cannabis extracts was associated with long-term reductions in neuropathic pain in select MS patients. On average, patients in the study required fewer daily doses of the drug and reported lower median pain scores the longer they took it. These results would be unlikely in patients suffering from a progressive disease like MS unless the cannabinoid therapy was halting its progression, investigators have suggested.

Check out US Patent 6630507 titled “Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants” which is assigned to The United States of America, as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services.