Professor Jennifer Martin (The University of Newcastle) - Medical Cannabis: the importance of the pharmacological detail

Speaker

Professor Jennifer Martin (The University of Newcastle)

Abstract

Prof Martin is director of the NHMRC-funded Australian Centre for Cannabinoid Clinical and Research Excellence (ACRE), Australia’s first federally funded research centre in medical cannabinoids to ensure quality and safety in the implementation of medicinal cannabis use in the community.

In July 2015, the NSW government announced Australia's first medical cannabis trial for terminally ill adult cancer patients. The Hunter will serve as a recruitment hub for this study and the UON clinical pharmacology group will lead the dose-finding study in the Hunter, together with UON's Conjoint Professors Stephen Ackland and Katherine Clark. Although likely to polarise opinion, the study could significantly improve the wellbeing of terminal patients at the end of life. To be conducted in two phases, the trial will assess the ability of cannabis to relieve symptoms including fatigue, low appetite, altered taste and smell for food, low mood, weight loss, nausea, insomnia and pain relief.

Jennifer believes the team was chosen to run the pharmacology aspects of the cannabis trial due to the long history of excellence in the UON Clinical Pharmacology department (previous Chairs include Emeritus Professor Tony Smith and Professor David Henry), and the high level of analytical support offered by the University of Newcastle, led by Dr Peter Galettis. In line with her focus on optimising the therapeutic benefits of medication, Jennifer sees this trial as a vital opportunity to assess and quantify a drug already being used by many extremely ill patients. The first phase of the trial will produce world-class pharmacokinetic analysis and sophisticated modelling to inform drug dosage and frequency of administration

Speaker bio

Professor Jennifer Martin is a leading clinical pharmacologist. She is the Chair of the discipline of Clinical Pharmacology in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle and a senior staff specialist in internal medicine at the John Hunter Hospital.

Professor Martin is also Director of the NHMRC-funded Australia Centre for Cannabinoid Clinical and Research Excellence (ACRE), Australia's first federally-funded research centre in medicinal cannabinoids to ensure quality and safety in the implementation of medicinal cannabis use in the community.

She is also lead chief investigator on a $1.96 million Cancer Council NSW pathways grant to develop a personalised chemotherapy dosing system for cancer patients, and more than $3m in funding for medicinal cannabis research as part of NSW Health’s Clinical Cannabis Medicines Program.

In addition, Professor Martin is part of Australia's first medical cannabis trial to produce world-class pharmacokinetic analysis and sophisticated modelling to inform drug dosage and frequency of administration.

Based at the Hunter Medical Research Institute, the former Rhodes Scholar leads a team of pharmacy and medicine experts together with pharmacoepidemiologists and pharmacoeconomists.