As part of our Global Research Program, JMCC has recently signed agreements to support ground-breaking medical research initiatives in Canada and Jamaica to measure the effects of plant-based treatments on epilepsy and migraine, as well as other neurological conditions. JMCC will serve as the exclusive provider of either the pharma-grade medical cannabis or high-quality psilocybin required for these projects as well as additional financial support for each as explained below.
On the epilepsy front, JMCC is supporting Dr. Peter Carlen and his lab at the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada, in this project characterizing the effects of psilocybin on a mouse model of epilepsy and in human cerebral organoids. This work will help provide preliminary research in the use of psilocybin medicines on patients with epilepsy – a field that has largely been theoretical up to this point. This is important due to the high proportion of patients with epilepsy suffering from psychiatric co-morbidities or functional seizures that may significantly benefit from psilocybin treatment.
This project will explore in vitro (outside of living organism) electrophysiology, examining the acute effects of psilocybin on an epileptic brain slice in both rodent and human models. This will reveal the effect that psilocybin has on epileptic electrical activity and neural connectivity. The project will also examine the in vivo (within living organism) behavioural and electro-physiological effects of psilocybin in the mouse epilepsy model.
JMCC will be providing financial support and help co-directing the project, as well as the psilocybin product to be used, both raw mushrooms and purified psilocybin.
(JMCC announced earlier this year that we had begun commercial production of pharma-grade psilocybin in Jamaica after 18 months of R&D and a successful export of testing material to Canada.)
Also in the epilepsy field, JMCC will support a national clinical trial to be led by a major Canadian-based university medical research centre. This project will examine a novel medical cannabis-based treatment of epilepsy in adults and children, and is currently awaiting grant and ethics proposal acceptance. We would provide all medical cannabis-based test and placebo products.
To examine the effects of terpenes and cannabinoids in migraine pain, JMCC is supporting the research of University of the West Indies’ PhD student Danielle Campbell, who is being supervised by Dr. Lauriann Young-Martin in Kingston, Jamaica. JMCC will be providing financial support and cannabinoid extracts for their study which aims to compare the impact and mechanism of action of a known terpene extract with various cannabinoid extracts on rat models of migraine pain.
Their study will be important in providing rigorous preclinical and animal evidence in the therapeutic potential of medical cannabis compounds in migraine pain – a field currently dominated by anecdotal and theoretical evidence. The study also seeks to determine the effectiveness and mechanism of action of terpenes – another area that requires more rigorous investigation. In the long term, this project may provide a baseline for more advanced clinical studies from which novel product development may arise.
Finally, JMCC is supporting a retrospective chart review project based at the Neurology Centre of Toronto. This project is developing the largest adult and pediatric database of neurologic patients being treated with medical cannabis from a single clinic. The data will provide information on treatments and patient-reported outcomes from patients suffering from a variety of neurologic conditions, including epilepsy, concussion, headaches, autism, and anxiety. This information will provide practical insights in dosing patients based on specific patient profiles. The data will also provide further real-world evidence of the use of medical cannabis, adding to currently established literature.
You can’t be a true medical products leader without being dedicated to supporting the development of evidence-based data that will ultimately help deliver better products and experiences for patients. JMCC made that commitment early in our business and we continue to expand our efforts today.
We look forward to sharing updates as these initiatives progress. We are also in discussions to support other research projects with leading institutions around the world and will announce new partnerships as they are finalized.
Stay tuned!