Federal Department of Home Affairs Federal Office of Public Health FOPH Health and Accident Insurance Directorate Section Health Technology Assessment Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Scoping Report Title Medical cannabis for treating various symptoms in Switzerland Author/Affiliation Anouk Oordt, Jennifer Eeuwijk, Eveline Bunge From Pallas Health Research and Consultancy Valérie Wester, Philip Klein, Tim Kanters, Carin Uyl-de Groot From institute for Medical Technology Assessment, Erasmus University of Rotterdam Bundesamt für Gesundheit Sektion Health Technology Assessment Schwarzenburgstrasse 157 CH-3003 Bern Schweiz Tel.: +41 58 462 92 30 E-mail:
[email protected] 1 Technology Medical cannabis Date 26-08-2020 Type of Technology Pharmaceuticals and natural products Executive Summary: Medical cannabis encompasses all cannabis-based products which are used for medical treatment. Since 2012, Switzerland allows patients to get access to medical cannabis through a timely limited exceptional license. To date, general reimbursement by the compulsory health insurance for medical cannabis does not exist in Switzerland. Medical cannabis can be used to treat various symptoms and is predominantly used as add-on therapy or after other therapeutic options were unsuccessful. The aim of this scoping report was to investigate the evidence for the efficacy, effectiveness, safety, and cost-effectiveness of medical cannabis for treating the following symptoms: chronic pain, spas- ticity, unintentional weight loss, and nausea and vomiting related to cancer treatment. The selection of these symptoms was guided by a preliminary literature search. For this scoping report, systematic literature searches were performed in PubMed (MEDLINE), Em- base, and other complementary databases to identify relevant published efficacy, effectiveness, safety, and cost-effectiveness evidence.