October 10, 2019 – Researchers from the CCNA team investigating treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms in neurodegenerative diseases have received a major award to continue their research into the impact of nabilone on agitation in Alzheimer’s disease.
Drs. Krista Lanctôt and Nathan Herrmann, senior investigators at the Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto and leaders of CCNA’s neuropsychiatric symptom treatment team, have been awarded, along with other team members, $1.4 million USD ($1.84 million CAD) from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation to carry out their project “Nabilone for Agitation Blinded Intervention Trial (NAB-IT)”.
This trial builds upon the work done by these researchers in CCNA Phase I (2014-2019) which demonstrated that nabilone, a synthetic version of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana plants, reduces agitation in persons with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease. The initial study was carried out with 39 individuals and will now be expanded to multiple centres across Canada in order to confirm the previous results in a larger group of people.
According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, agitation – characterized by extreme restlessness and disruptive outbursts – is experienced by one in five people with Alzheimer’s disease. Nabilone is presently used to treat chemotherapy-induced nausea and to help stimulate appetite and regain weight in those with anorexia, but has not been approved for use in Alzheimer’s disease. If the larger trial confirms the results of the initial trial, it will move this medication one step closer to approval for the treatment of agitation in Alzheimer’s disease and relief for those burdened with these symptoms.