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Cannabis for Palliative Care in Cancer

Cannabis for Palliative Care in Cancer: A Placebo-controlled Randomized Trial of Full Spectrum Hemp-derived CBD/THC

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT06266611
Acronym
ARCTiC
Enrollment
185
Registered
2024-02-20
Start date
2024-09-16
Completion date
2028-06-30
Last updated
2025-08-01

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Anxiety, Depression, Pain, Sleep

Brief summary

Many cancer patients suffer from pain, sleep, and mood problems and are using cannabis to relieve these symptoms. Cannabis may provide such relief but may also produce negative side effects including cognitive impairment, an especially problematic issue for cancer patients, indicating more research on cannabis use in the cancer context is required. In this endeavor, the present study seeks to compare the use of hemp-derived CBD (Cannabidiol) with and without THC (Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) versus placebo on measures of sleep, pain, mood, subjective and objective cognitive functioning, and quality of life within 185 cancer patients.

Interventions

Full Spectrum hemp-derived CBD (fsCBD; 200mg CBD/4mg THC) capsules produced by Ecofibre/Ananda Hemp will be used

DRUGPlacebo

Placebo arm; capsules produced by Ecofibre/Ananda Hemp will be used

Broad spectrum hemp-derived CBD (bsCBD; 200mg CBD) capsules produced by Ecofibre/Ananda Hemp will be used

Sponsors

University of Colorado, Boulder
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
25 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

1. Able to provide informed consent 2. Aged ≥25 years at Visit 1 (Baseline) 3. Have a diagnosis of any solid tumor type and is currently undergoing or has undergone either curative or palliative treatment in the past 18 months 4. Currently experiencing symptoms of sleep problems, pain, and/or mood disturbance (i.e., depression, anxiety) 5. Desire to use cannabis to treat their symptoms 6. Must not have been regularly using any cannabis products (more than 3x/month) in the last 6 months 7. Willing to practice acceptable methods of birth control until completing study medication

Exclusion criteria

1. Report of illegal drug use (e.g., cocaine, methamphetamine) in the past 90 days 2. Current use of anti-epileptic medications (e.g., clobazam, sodium valproate, lamotrigine) 3. Current use of medications known to have major interactions with Epidiolex (e.g., buprenorphine, leflunomide, levomethadyl acetate, lomitapide, mipomersen, pexidartinib, propoxyphene, sodium oxybate, teriflunomide) 4. Current use of anti-psychotic medications 5. Current use of potent CYP2C19 or CYP3A4 inducers (e.g., Rifampin, apalutamide, carbamazepine, enzalutamide, ivosidenib9, lumacaftor, ivacaftor, phenytoin, St. John's wort, Fosphenytoin, Mitotane, Phenobarbital, Primidone) 6. Liver function tests (Alanine transaminase \[ALT\] and Aspartate transaminase \[AST\]) levels ≥2x the upper normal limits 7. Moderate or severe liver disease 8. Past or current diagnosis, or family history of diagnosis, of psychosis; current major psychiatric illness, such as bipolar disorder, major depression, or schizophrenia 9. History of seizures 10. For female participant of childbearing potential: Pregnant or lactating at the time of study enrollment or trying to become pregnant. Lack of childbearing potential confirmed by a history of amenorrhea for at least 12 consecutive months and serum FSH level within the laboratory's reference range for postmenopausal females OR documented bilateral oophorectomy and/or hysterectomy 11. Physician response to passive consent indicating contraindications for participation. 12. Unwilling to refrain from cannabis use other than study drug for the entire study duration 13. Men who consume more than 2 alcoholic beverages per day and women who consume more than 1 alcoholic beverage per day

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Drug Effects - Blood Cannabinoids4 weeksAcute plasma cannabinoid levels in participants will be measured from blood samples pre-drug administration, on-hour post drug administration, and 2-hours post drug administration at week 4 appointment.
Plasma CannabinoidsBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksPlasma cannabinoid levels in participants will be measured from biological samples.
PROMIS Pain Intensity (Right Now)4 weeksPROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) Pain Intensity (Right Now). Scores are between 0-10, with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst imaginable pain.
Drug Effects4 weeksDrug Effects Questionnaire (DEQ). Six questions about drug effects with possible answers of not at all, somewhat, and extremely, where higher scores indicate higher drug effects.
ARCI-Marijuana Scale4 weeksAddiction Research Center Inventory - Marijuana Scale (ARCI-M). 12 True or false questions where more true answers indicate higher drug effects.
Drug Effects - Mood4 weeksProfile of Mood States (POMS). Scores are between 28-140, with higher scores indicating higher drug effects.
Pain InterferenceBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksPROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) Pain Interference. Total scores are between 8 and 40, with higher scores meaning more pain interference.
Pain IntensityBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksPROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) Pain Intensity (7-day). Scores are between 0-10, with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst imaginable pain.
Pain InventoryBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksBrief Pain Inventory (BPI) survey. Measures pain levels, pain interference, and relief from medication, and includes diagrams for labeling pain. For pain levels, various questions ask participants to rate pain on a scale of 0-10, 0 being no pain and 10 being pain as bad as you can imagine. For questions about pain interference, each question is on a scale of 0-10, where 0 does not interfere and 10 completely interferes. BPI is scored as an average of each subsection, where a higher average suggests greater severity of pain/more interference.
Sleep DisturbanceBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksPROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) Sleep Disturbance 4a. Scores are separated between the first question (sleep quality) and the remaining 7 questions. For the first question, scores are between 1 and 5, with 1 being very poor sleep quality and 5 being very good sleep quality. The remaining 7 questions are scored individually on a scale of 1--5; for some questions, higher scores mean less disturbance, and for others, a higher score means more disturbance.
Sleep-Related ImpairmentBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksPROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) Sleep-Related Impairment 4a. Scores are between 4 and 20, with higher scores indicating more sleep-related impairment
Depression/AnxietyBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksDepression Anxiety Stress Scale - 21 Item (DASS-21). Scores are between 0 and 63, with higher scores indicating more negative emotional states.
FatigueBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksPROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) Fatigue 4a. Scores range from 4-20, with higher scores indicating more fatigue.
Health Related Quality of LifeBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksHealth Related Quality of Life Short Form 12 (SF-12). Scores range from 0-100 with higher scores indicating better health.
FACT-Cog Cognitive FunctionBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksFunctional Assessment of Cognitive Function - Cognitive (FACT-Cog). Scores are transformed such that scores range from 0-132 and higher scores indicate a better quality of life/cognitive function.
Stroop Task Test of Cognitive FunctionBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksStroop Task
DSST Test of Cognitive FunctionBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksDigit Symbol Substitution Task (DSST)
Conners Test of Cognitive FunctionBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksConners Continuous Performance Test - Version 3 (CPT-3)

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Polypharmacy for PainBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksUse of pain medications
Polypharmacy for Psychiatric RxBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksUse of psychiatric medications
Polypharmacy for SleepBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksUse of sleep medications

Other

MeasureTime frameDescription
Cancer Disease ProgressionBaseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeksAssess cancer disease progression and report as outcome
Cancer Treatment TypeBaselineType of treatment participant is using for cancer, including specific type of immunotherapy, if relevant and known

Countries

United States

Contacts

Primary ContactKyle Chrystal, BA
kyle.chrystal@colorado.edu603-769-7718

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026