Imperial College London Studying Entourage Effect of Cannabis

The United Kingdom’s Imperial College London and European medical cannabis company EMMAC are partnering on a study to evaluate the entourage effect of cannabis as a pain reliever, the company announced last week. The study would allow the publication of the results with hopes to support future clinical trials focused on patients with acute or chronic pain.

Under the collaboration, EMMAC will fund a post-doctoral research fellow for a minimum one year period and the researchers will explore the efficacy of EMMAC products for patients with neuropathic pain, nausea, and vomiting.

Imperial College London Professor Praveen Anand said the study’s results “may support the rational design of future clinical trials to enhance pain relief and minimize adverse effects” related to cannabis.

“This is a very exciting area of pain research, which aims to characterize the entourage effect and related mechanisms of cannabis-based medicine combinations at a molecular level.” – Anand, in a statement

EMMAC indicated that the study could be just the beginning of their work with Imperial and expect to partner on other studies focused on different therapeutic areas of cannabis. Reuters has named Imperial as Europe’s third most innovative university – top in the UK – because of its ties to industry and its entrepreneurial culture.

The UK allows sales of CBD products and cannabis-derived seizure medication Epidiolex but there is no medical cannabis access or adult-use legalization.