Cannformatics Discovers Tool For Objectively Measuring Medical Cannabis Benefits In Children With Autism

A new study has revealed an effective tool for objectively measuring the benefits of medical cannabis treatment in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), opening up new avenues of medicinal cannabis research, the co-authors explained. They also plan to broaden the research to include conditions such as chronic neuropathic pain, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, etc.

Medical cannabis-focused biotechnology startup Cannformatics revealed Wednesday that the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research has published results from this observational pilot study of children with ASD.

Study Details And Results

Participants in the study included boys and girls 6-12 years old with symptoms spanning the autism spectrum. They were racially, ethnically and socio-economically diverse.

The study successfully identified a new class of metabolites, cannabis-responsive biomarkers that objectively quantify the physiological impact of medical cannabis treatment. This means that the biomarkers offer a tool for analyzing the metabolic pathways affected by medical cannabis and CBD.

“One of our primary goals for this study was to scientifically validate Cannabis-Responsive biomarkers as a universal measurement for evaluating cannabis impact. The publishing of this paper achieves that goal, and it represents over three-years of research developing a biomarker technology for objectively determining the impact of commercially available medical cannabis products,” Itzhak Kurek, PhD, Cannformatics CEO and co-founder stated. “Based on the strong findings from this study, we are expanding our platform development to include chronic neuropathic pain, anxiety, and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. We are forever grateful to all the participating children and their families who made this work possible.”

The underlying technology and study methodology were developed by a multi-disciplinary team of experts in biochemistry, bioinformatics, data science, neuropsychology, pediatrics, integrative oncology, emergency medicine and the medical cannabis industry.

Breaking Stigma And Optimizing Treatment

“The lack of objective data contributes to the confusion and stigma patients face when looking to medical cannabis to improve wellness and quality-of-life. Cannabis-Responsive biomarkers give the industry a new set of tools to quantitatively evaluate the medical impact of legally available cannabis and CBD products,” chief commercial officer and Cannformatics co-founder, Kenneth Epstein said in a statement. “We felt it was important to publish and publicly share our findings as a demonstration of our commitment to both the ASD and medical cannabis communities. We want to thank our sponsors Canniatric and Whole Plant Access for Autism (WPA4A.org) for their generous support of the ASD Pilot Study.”

Bonni Goldstein, MD, study co-author and Cannformatics clinical advisor added, “As a medical cannabis clinician and pediatrician who treats many patients with autism, this study is very exciting because it shows for the first time that the positive outcomes I’m seeing from medical cannabis can be confirmed and quantified with Cannabis-Responsive biomarkers. The changes seen in these biomarker levels in response to medical cannabis treatment will help guide clinicians and parents to optimize treatment in children with autism.”

Photo: Courtesy of Caleb Woods on Unsplash