Research study · Journal of Clinical Oncology · 2024
Oral Cannabis Extract for Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Phase II/III Trial
A 2024 randomized controlled trial in Journal of Clinical Oncology tested cannabis in nausea. Adding a THC:CBD capsule raised the proportion of people who got through five days with no vomiting and no rescue medication from 8% to 24%. This is one of the clearer signals we have.
Study overview
A randomised trial in adults who were still being sick during chemotherapy despite already taking the standard anti-sickness medicines.
Findings
Adding a THC:CBD capsule raised the proportion of people who got through five days with no vomiting and no rescue medication from 8% to 24%. Sedation, dizziness and short-lived anxiety were more common.
Why this matters
This is one of the clearer signals we have. It was an add-on to good standard care, not a replacement for it, and the benefit came with real side effects worth discussing before starting.
Abstract
147 participants received either capsules containing 2.5 mg THC plus 2.5 mg CBD or matching placebo, three times daily from the day before chemotherapy through day 5, on top of guideline-consistent antiemetic prophylaxis. That background regimen was substantial: 97% received a corticosteroid and a 5-HT3 antagonist, 80% an NK-1 antagonist.
The primary endpoint was a complete response across hours 0-120 - no vomiting or retching and no rescue medication. THC:CBD improved that from 8% to 24%, an absolute difference of 16% (95% CI, 4 to 28; P = .01). Effects pointed the same way for significant nausea, rescue medication use, daily vomits, and the nausea scale of the Functional Living Index-Emesis.
The trade-off is explicit in the data. Sedation was reported by 18% versus 7%, dizziness 10% versus 0%, and transient anxiety 4% versus 1%. No serious adverse events were attributed to the study drug. The trial recruited 147 of a planned 250 participants, so it is smaller than intended.
Citation
Grimison P, Mersiades A, Kirby A, Tognela A, Olver I, Morton RL, et al. Oral Cannabis Extract for Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Phase II/III Trial. Journal of Clinical Oncology (2024). PubMed 39151115 · DOI
Browse related research
Condition: Cancer Condition: Nausea Condition: Vomiting Topic: Antiemetics Topic: CBD Topic: THC
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Reviewed by Dr. Caplan on September 17, 2026.
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