An Israeli Company, Syqe Medical, has developed a hand-held device that delivers a controlled dose of cannabis. According to Emily Wasserman, writing for Fierce Medical, the palm-sized inhaler requires a fraction of the cannabis usually prescribed monthly for pain. The inhaler works by vaporizing tiny granules of cannabis in doses as small as 1 mg which allows physicians to tailor the dosage to the needs of each patient. This also puts the drug in a form that is difficult to sell on the black market.
Getting Physicians Comfortable Prescribing Marijuana
1 min read Premium comments
Secondary
Wasserman quoted Elon Eisenberg, director of the Pain Relief Unit at Haifa’s Rambam Hospital, as saying the inhaler added “a much needed treatment in the limited armamentarium of effective therapies for the management of chronic pain.”
Syqe Medical’s CEO Perry Davidson told the Wall Street Journal that the company hopes to enter the U.S. market which he believes will reach $10 billion in the next five years. “We see it as a challenge, ” Davidson said. “If we can unlock it…we believe that we can finally bring cannabis in as a mainstream drug, and have physicians be comfortable using it.”
React:
Discussion
This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
Join the conversation
Orthopedic professionals are discussing this. Sign in and upgrade to read every comment and add your voice.