Consultancy
Drug Science Consultancy provides research advice and consultancy services to businesses, governments and other stakeholders on all drug related areas, with particular emphasis on the emerging cannabis and psychedelic medicine markets.
We are a separate, commercially oriented trading arm of the Drug Science charity, and all profits are returned to the charity to support its charitable objectives.
Our Expertise
We have extensive experience across a range of scientific disciplines and research and development approaches. Our team includes experts in epidemiology, quantitative and qualitative methods, pharmacology, neuroscience and neuroimaging, as well as clinical trial design. In addition, we understand the regulatory landscape for cannabis and psychedelics, and we can provide guidance on navigating these complex bureaucratic processes.
Drug Science Consultancy is committed to providing the highest quality research advice and consultancy services. We work with our clients to ensure that their research is well-designed, ethical, and compliant with all relevant regulations. We also provide regular updates on progress and make ourselves available to answer questions.
Collaborations
We are working together with a trusted group of Contract Research Organisations and have established partnerships with the leading academic institutions in the UK as well as a range of external experts globally.
What We Offer
Project Management
Our team will systematically assess the boundaries, objectives, requirements, and deliverables of projects. These foundations give clients a clear understanding of what the project can achieve and how it will be executed. This will often include gathering information about the issue that your project seeks to address, existing solutions, risks, feasibility, budget, and timelines.
Projects often involve collaborations between multiple organisations. Our reputation and existing collaborations means we are well placed to identify potential partners and manage collaborations that may include Contract Research Organisations (CROs), technology providers, universities, drug developers and other key stakeholders.
Drug Science has extensive experience especially in the domains of medical cannabis and psychedelics, allowing us to distinguish credible entities from those who are not. We provide vetting services to assist organisations in safeguarding themselves from potential deception.
Our experienced team is proficient in crafting compelling grant proposals tailored to the unique requirements of the cannabis, psychedelic, and healthcare sectors. We understand the intricacies of grant applications, from research funding to nonprofit initiatives. By leveraging our expertise, we can help you articulate your vision, align your goals with funding opportunities, and increase your chances of securing vital financial support for your projects.
Conducting Research
Longitudinal Surveys
Collection and Analysis
We have extensive experience in conducting different types of qualitative research including interviews, focus groups, content analyses, and media analyses amongst others. These approaches are especially important when looking at a novel topic or idea to gain a deep knowledge of current developments in the field and to understand public and media perceptions of them.
Longitudinal Surveys
We can provide methodological advice across a range of issues including identification of target population/s and implementation of sampling strategy, design of appropriate assessment batteries including identification of existing validated questionnaires addressing specific topics; analysis and reporting of results. We have experience with novel strategies for targeted recruitment, incorporation of electronic and passive assessments from e.g., wearable devices.
Collection and Analysis
We are uniquely positioned to collect and analyse real-world evidence (RWE) – that is data collected as part of routine administrative practice including clinical practice. We believe that the future of clinical research will take place in the ‘real world’ which is why we conducted Europe’s largest RWE study into medical cannabis. With a proven track record of being able to deliver such studies, we can guide clients through every step of the process.
We have extensive experience in a range of analytical techniques including descriptive, psychometric and inferential approaches incorporating aspects of complex sampling and missing data.
Clinical Trial Development
We conduct narrative and systematic reviews to identify studies relevant to your research and development needs. The literature review can be used to identify gaps in knowledge and to inform the design of future research.
We can develop a detailed plan for your clinical trial. The protocol includes precise information about the study design, the participants, the interventions, the data collection methods, and the statistical analysis plan.
Once the clinical trial protocol has been developed, we can coordinate the initiation and delivery of the trial incorporating the synchronisation of all stakeholders involved in the trial, including ethical review boards, healthcare services, sponsors, CROs, and regulatory agencies.
We understand the complexities of legal and regulatory requirements for conducting research with scheduled drugs such as cannabis or psychedelics and for other interventions, such as those aimed at reducing the harms associated with non-medical use of drugs. This can be a complex process, and we can help you to navigate these requirements.
Communications and Marketing
We write up scientific or regulatory results based on data emerging from your research. This can be in the form of reports, academic publications, or even social media posts.
We offer strategies for communication of research results and help to ‘translate’ the science into a format that ensures the public understanding of the scientific findings. This may involve acting as scientific and/or clinical liaisons to represent companies to the public, policy makers, regulatory authorities, clinicians, healthcare services and to governments.
Our creative team is able to help companies designs pitch decks, digital assets and infographics that not only convey information effectively but also captivate your target audience. With a keen eye for aesthetics and a deep understanding of visual storytelling, we collaborate closely with you to tailor these materials to your unique brand identity and messaging.
Drug Science is renowned for orchestrating world-class events that consistently reach full capacity. We can collaborate with you to tailor events for diverse audiences and effectively promote them to ensure strong attendance.
Our Experts
Prof David Nutt
Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Drug Science, David is the Edmond J. Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology and Head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research, at Imperial College London. One of the world’s leading researchers on drugs, David continues to fight for evidence-based drug policies.
Prof Mike Barnes
Mike is Chief Medical Officer at Drug Science, a consultant neurologist, as well as Founder Chair of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society, Chair of the Cannabis Industry Council and Chair of Maple Tree Med Can Consultancy. A global medical cannabis expert, Mike has dedicated his career to the development of neurological rehabilitation and medical cannabis treatments and education.
Prof Michael Lynskey
Michael is Chief Research Officer at Drug Science and has previously worked as an academic researcher in mental health and drug science in Australia, the US and UK. He is an epidemiologist and research methodologist and has extensive experience running studies including cross-sectional studies, prospective observational studies of general population and clinic samples, genetically informed and real world data.
Dr Anne Katrin Schlag
Long standing Head of Research and currently CEO of Drug Science, Anne is a Chartered Psychologist, with extensive experience in both qualitative and quantitative drug research, especially medical cannabis and medical psychedelics. Anne holds honorary senior positions at both King’s College London and Imperial College London.
Dr Hannah Thurgur
Hannah is Senior Researcher at Drug Science, as well as Associate Director of Research at Awakn. Hannah’s experience ranges across biochemistry, neuroscience, pre-clinical and clinical research, and she has led research on medical cannabis and psychedelics.
Dr Rayyan Zafar
Rayyan is a Senior Researcher at Drug Science, and postdoctoral fellow at Imperial College London. He has led clinical and neuroscience research in the field of psychopharmacology, and offers extensive experience in clinical trials, as well as biomedical, psychedelic and cannabis science.
Alkyoni Athanasiou-Fragkouli
Alkyoni is Research Officer at Drug Science, where she is instrumental in data collection and analysis of Project Twenty21 (T21), the UK’s first medical cannabis registry. She is experienced in large scale project management, stakeholder communications as well as protocol development.
James Bunn
Head of Operations at Drug Science, James is our legal and regulatory consultant with experience in the UK, Canada, Australia, USA, Israel and various EU member states. James contributed to the development of the world’s largest psychedelic Real World Evidence project that utilises medical psilocybin products and is able to advise on law and regulatory pathways.
Mags Houston
Mags is our Head of Projects and Communications with extensive marketing and project management experience from the corporate advertising sector. She works across all aspects of the business; managing strategic communications, curating educational events for various sectors, as well as being a main point of liaison with key partners and stakeholders.
Why Choose Drug Science Consultancy?
We are global thought leaders in medical cannabis and medical psychedelics research and committed to providing the highest quality research advice and consultancy services. We work with our clients to ensure that their research is well-designed, ethical, and compliant with all relevant regulations. We also provide regular updates on our progress and make ourselves available to answer questions.
