ABOUT
What is QUEST?
Whilst there is scientific evidence to support the use of medicinal cannabis in therapeutic treatment for some conditions and symptoms, to date, there has been a lack of large real-world evidence assessing both quality of life changes in patients accessing medicinal cannabis and the related health economic value.
Conducted by researchers at Curtin University, The Global QUEST Initiative aims to be the world’s largest clinical study investigating quality of life in patients prescribed medicinal cannabis. The study will assess out of pocket costs along with any economic benefits, and the baseline symptoms patients experience from their diagnosed condition before taking medical cannabis and then compare the severity of these symptoms over time following the commencement of medicinal cannabis therapy.
Benefits for participants:
• Medication at a cost from $135 per bottle or $130 per 10g sachet
• Connect with doctors experienced in prescribing medicinal cannabis (via the QUEST booking team)
• Participate in a non-invasive study from the comfort of your home
• Contribute to medical research and advancement of the understanding of medicinal cannabis and its impact on quality of life
What's involved for participants?
The Global QUEST Initiative will measure quality of life factors in a non-invasive way. Participants will complete online surveys as part of the study – and can do this from the comfort of their home. In addition, as part of standard care, a patient will need to consult their doctor periodically to discuss their results, receive additional scripts and to ensure continuity of care.
Understanding that some patients have mobility issues, the QUEST team have developed options for patient telehealth consults. Furthermore, medications for this trial will be couriered directly to patients.
Participants in the study can join for over 12-months. During this time, participants will be required to pay for their own medication. They will receive their medication at a subsidised cost from only $135 bottle of or $130 for 10 sachet (including delivery fee). Participation is voluntary and individuals can ‘opt-out’ at any time.
Our commitment
The Global QUEST Initiative team will be available throughout your journey for support.
Consistent access to affordable medication.
Privacy for participating patients is protected.
After the study ends, a summary of overall results will be available through your prescribing doctor.
Study Management:
Dr Richard Norman - Principal Investigator
School of Population Health, Curtin University
A/Prof Norman is a health economist with considerable experience in patient-reported outcomes and economic evaluation of health technologies, and analysis of large panel data. He has conducted research in a range of clinical areas, including cancer, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis.
He has academic qualifications from the University of York (BA(Hons) Philosophy and Economics, and MSc Health Economics) and from the University of Technology Sydney (PhD Health Economics).
Dr Christopher Reid - Co-Investigator
School of Public Health, Curtin University
Christopher Reid is a cardiovascular epidemiologist and clinical trialist with appointments as Research Professor in both the School of Public Health at Curtin University and the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University. He was appointed as a John Curtin Distinguished Professor in 2018 and is currently Director of the Monash and Curtin Centre’s of Cardiovascular Research and Education (CCRE).
His research interests focus on cardiovascular outcome trials and registries. He holds a National Health and Medical Research Council Principal Research Fellowship (2018-2022).
Dr Jun Chih - Project Statistician
School of Public Health, Curtin University
Dr Jun Chih is a senior lecturer and research fellow at Curtin School of Population Health and Clinical Trials Enabling Platform WA with expertise in a wide range of epidemiological cohort studies and clinical trials. She has collaborated with multidisciplinary research teams across public and private hospitals, clinics and research centres through designing clinical studies, analysing data using routine and complex statistical models, and supervising early career research students. The research projects she is involved in are in the areas of cardiovascular diseases, cancers, brain diseases, mental wellbeing, prediction of patient outcomes, and effective education practices.
Dr Chih will be assisting the QUEST team with study design and data analyses.
Dr Karl Gruber - Research Officer
School of Public Health, Curtin University
Dr Karl Gruber is a biologist, scientific writer, and researcher with 15 years of experience in academic research, and more than 10 years of experience writing and editing lay content, peer-reviewed papers and research grants. He holds a Master of Science from the University of Minnesota, USA and a PhD in Biological Sciences from The University of Western Australia.
Currently, Karl works as Research Officer for Curtin University’s School of Population Health, where he provides support to the scientific team in aspects related to the research, writing, management and implementation of the QUEST Global Initiative. Karl also serves as liaison with medical doctors involved with QUEST.
Advisory Group
Professor Stephan Schug - Pain Management Advisor
Stephan Schug is Emeritus Professor and Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Medical School of the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia; he recently retired from his previous positions as Chair of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine and Director of Pain Medicine at Royal Perth Hospital, Australia.
His principal research interests include the management of acute and chronic pain, cancer pain, regional anaesthesia, the pharmacology of local anaesthetics and analgesics and quality improvement in health care.
Professor Schug studied medicine at the University of Cologne, Germany, where he also obtained his MD in clinical pharmacology and subsequently specialised in anaesthesia and pain medicine. He has written amongst others 80 research and 180 review papers. He is currently on editorial and review boards of several leading journals an active member of several pain and anaesthesia societies including just retired member of the Board of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of ANZCA (FPMANZCA).
Professor Serge Perrot - Pain Management Advisor
Professor Serge Perrot is a rheumatologist and pain specialist who divides his time between clinical work as Head of the Pain Centre at Cochin Hospital, Paris, France, and academic work as Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at Paris University. He is also a Councillor for the International Association for the Study of Pain, the past-President of the French Pain Society and works at the Paris INSERM Research Unit 987, part of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research.
Following his fellowship at the Cochin and Bichat Hospitals between 1985 and 1989, Professor Perrot gained his certification in rheumatology and qualified as an MD from Paris Descartes University in 1989. Between 1991 and 1995 he was Assistant Professor at the Rheumatology Department of the Cochin Hospital. He continued his studies at the Paris 6 and Paris 12 Universities becoming a specialist in pain medicine (1997) and completing a PhD in Neuroscience (2001) and a Masters in Ethics and Philosophy (2016). His fields of interest and research include pain in osteoarticular disorders, the pharmacology of pain, patient education and innovative technology in pain management.
Professor Serge Perrot has been a clinical investigator for hundreds of studies on pain, rheumatology and osteoporosis and a national or international co-ordinator for 45 of these studies. He has published 140 articles in international medical journals. He is also a member of several international boards concerned with pain in rheumatology. In addition to his membership in several French rheumatological societies, Professor Perrot is a member of the International Association for the Study of Pain and the European Pain Society.
Dr Daniel Costa - Statistics Advisor
Pain Epidemiologist and Statistician
Dr Daniel Costa is currently employed at the Pain Management Research Institute, Royal North Shore Hospital. He is also a Senior Lecturer – School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, the University of Sydney
Dr Daniel Costa has been affiliated with the QOL Office as either employee or collaborator since mid-2009.
He provided psychometric and statistical expertise to the Cancer Australia QOL Technical Services on a part-time basis 2013-2015, assisting with direct advice to CTGs, educational activities, and the development of online resources.
Dr Costa has published articles discussing theoretical and methodological issues related to PROs. He has analysed data for a variety of projects involving PROs since 2009, conducting a range of sophisticated psychometric and statistical analyses with a focus on quality of life, fear of cancer recurrence, perceived cognitive function, unmet needs, and pain. He has also taught statistics and psychometrics to under-graduate students and PRO assessment theory and methods to post-graduates and consumers.
In 2015, Dr Costa obtained a position with Royal North Shore Hospital, but remains involved in the QOL Office as an honorary associate, as well as providing specialist advice as needed.
Dr Rachel Campbell - Sleep and Fatigue Advisor
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Sydney Quality of Life Office, School of Psychology, the University of Sydney
Rachel Campbell is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Sydney Quality of Life Office, based at the University of Sydney. Her background is in health psychology research and her PhD focussed on examining psychological predictors of fatigue and sleep disturbance in individuals with a range of chronic health conditions. Her current research focusses on optimising the use of patient-reported outcome measures to assess and manage symptoms in oncology research and clinical practice, with the goal of improving cancer patients’ symptom burden and health-related quality of life.
