In a special edition of the Business of Cannabis Podcast, we go from ‘anecdote to evidence’ with Dr Anne Katrin Schlag, Head of Research and Interim CEO at Drug Science, and Graham Woodward, Chief Operating Officer at Releaf.
Together, they explore how the UK can move from anecdotal patient stories to robust, real-world evidence, and why this shift is vital for expanding safe, trusted access to cannabis-based medicines.
One of the key challenges in cannabis-based medicine is how to transition from impactful but anecdotal patient stories, to robust evidence that policymakers, clinicians, and regulators recognise and trust.
In her role with Drug Science, Anne has played a key role in building the evidence base for medical cannabis, turning lived experience into real-world data, and helping ensure patients’ voices are heard where it matters the most.
Drug Science’s T21 patient registry (formerly known as Project Twenty21) was the UK’s first observational medical cannabis registry, with around 5,000 patients enrolled over the last five years. Anne and colleagues have now published numerous publications demonstrating the real-world evidence for the safety and efficacy of medical cannabis in a range of conditions, as well as other outcomes such as reductions in the use of opioid medications.
In this conversation, Graham and Anne unpack how clinics like Releaf are investing in quality-of-life surveys and data-driven patient care.
They discuss the importance of using validated and standardised screening tools across clinics in adding to the clinical credibility of this evidence and whether more solid evidence can finally open doors with regulators and the wider healthcare system.
“I’d like to see different providers collect the same data, this would give us a huge database which, for us as researchers, is very exciting,” Anne says.
The conversation also explores the barriers patients continue to face in accessing medical cannabis, such as cost and a lack of education and awareness among prescribers and the general public, as well as what can be done to address this.
Graham and Anne discuss how engagement with policy makers and key decision-makers is key to making these medicines more widely available on the NHS, while highlighting the value in combining scientific evidence with patient stories to drive wider acceptance among the general public.
“In addition to the science, patient stories carry a lot of power to change the narrative,” says Anne.
While RCTs are important, they are not the full picture. Regulators need to recognise patient-reported outcomes and real-world data for medical cannabis as not just anecdotal but scientific evidence that could shape the future of medicine.
She adds: “If we would have waited for randomised control trials before introducing [penicillin], millions of people would have died.”
For anyone interested in how data and patient outcomes can unlock the next stage of UK medical cannabis, this is a conversation not to miss. Listen to the full interview here
