General discussion, page-296

ASX biotech involved in research and developmentAustralia is seen as one of the progressive countries when it comes to the medicinal cannabis sectors. In 2020 a significant change in Australia’s medicinal cannabis market occurred when the TGA regulations changed to allow medicinal cannabis products to be sold as an over-the-counter medicine under the TGA’s S3 schedule.Medicinal Cannabis is currently only available under the SAS-B scheme, where patients must obtain a prescription from a registered doctor (S4 medicinal cannabis product)Could cannabinoids be the answer?While governments and the health sector work to tackle the opioid crisis, those involved in the medicinal cannabis sector also feel they can be part of the solution.Cannabis as a medicine is not new, used by ancient civilisations including China, India and Egypt as a treatment for various illnesses. But increased recreational use and perceived harm to society meant it has been widely outlawed in many countries over the years.However, as scientists discover new ways to use the plant’s medicinal compounds, medical cannabis is now one of the world’s fast-growing industries. Spend on legal cannabis is forecast to be worth more than US$60 billion by 2024, as regulations around the world start to catch up with the demand.Research is mixed as to whether medicinal cannabis will actually fix the opioid crisis and be a viable alternative to pain management. A study published in Health Economics found that the implementation of recreational marijuana laws in 2017 in four US states was associated with a decline in opioid-related emergency department visits, but the decline did not persist after six months.Guidance for the use of medicinal cannabis in the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain in Australia by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) provides comprehensive findings of medicinal cannabis for differing conditions and is updated as new evidence emergesBack at home, according to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare research, legal or pharmaceutical opioids have been involved in more deaths and opioid poisoning hospitalisations than heroin. Over the past decade, opioid-induced deaths were more likely to be due to prescription than illegal drugs, while there has been a rise in deaths with a prescription drug present.While associated with illegal drugs such as heroin, opioids have also long been used in medical settings to control acute and chronic pain.According to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)back in the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to opioid pain relievers, and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at greater rates.However, increased prescription of opioids led to widespread misuse of both prescription and non-prescription opioids before it became clear that these medications could indeed be highly addictive. By 2017, the US had declared a nationwide public health emergency regarding the opioid crisis.

In what has been widely described for some time now as an opioid crisis, governments globally are working to reduce the use of opioid pain relievers and associated addiction problems, and some ASX cannabinoid companies think they might just hold the key.
Over the past decade, opioid-induced deaths were more likely to be due to prescription drugs than illegal drugsAs scientists discover new ways to use the plant’s medicinal compounds, cannabis is seen as a possible solution to the opioid crisisSeveral ASX-listed biotechs are doing research and developing products in the burgeoning medicinal cannabis sector





Zelira has been working to expand its portfolio of cannabinoid-based products that target chronic pain.The company believes there’s clear potential to use cannabinoids to reduce the use of opioids in patients requiring chronic pain management.Zelira Therapeutics has partnered with St Vincent’s Hospital and Emyria (ASX:EMD) to study the effect of cannabinoid medications on people who are dependent on high doses of opioids to manage their chronic pain.The successful results of the Phase 1 clinical trial found that treatment with cannabinoid-based medicine was well tolerated with no serious adverse effects. Additionally there was a dose–responsive improvement in subjective measures of pain, stress, anxiety and depression.