HD research news - medical research into treatment & prevention

Trial of Nabilone in treating the symptoms of Huntington's disease

July 2005

Some people with Huntington's disease are reported to find self-medication with cannabis helpful. There have been no clinical trials to find out whether cannabinoid medication is beneficial and if it is what the benefits might be.

Everything is in place to begin a clinical trial of nabilone at the Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital. Patients who are seen in the outpatients clinic at the Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric hospital are being given the opportunity to take part in this important research.

Nabilone, swallowed as capsules, binds to the same receptors as the active ingredient in cannabis. All participants in this trial will take nabilone for five weeks and placebo for five weeks. This will enable the placebo effect, (where participants feel better because they are taking something even if what they are taking is inactive) to be taken into account. For each participant the trial will last fifteen weeks and will involve four two hour visits to the hospital where a motor assessment, a psychiatric assessment and a cognitive assessment will help to answer some important questions;

Is nabilone an effective treatment for the movements and psychiatric symptoms found in Huntington's disease?

Does taking nabilone have an effect on the cognitive symptoms in Huntington's disease?

There are already some patients ready to begin. For each participant, someone who knows them well, will also contribute to the assessment to ensure we get as accurate information as possible. At the moment we are only able to recruit patients from the outpatients clinic at this one hospital, but if this pilot study does find a statistically significant benefit there may well be a much larger multi centre trial.

Many thanks to the people who have written to me since my first article was published in the H.D.A. magazine it was lovely to hear from you. As soon as we have some results from the study a further article will be written to keep you informed.

• Adrienne Curtiss, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHSTrust