Hello Health Rounds readers! The medicinal benefits of cannabis have long been debated. Today we feature a study that found a cannabis-derived drug was better than opioids in a variety of measures for treating chronic lower back pain. We also highlight a discovery that diets rich in a certain amino acid may help heal intestinal damage caused by some cancer treatments.

Don't miss these breaking news stories from our Reuters team: US government shutdown threatens food-aid program for low-income Americans; Trump targets deals in pharma, AI, energy, mining before midterm elections; and the US FDA approves generic version of abortion drug.

Plus, US Pfizer deal powers health stocks as drugmakers court Trump; US health insurers reduce Medicare Advantage operations in 2026; the UK wins a lawsuit against firm over gowns contract in COVID pandemic; and scientists create human eggs using skin cells.

Nine-month-old baby Mohamat burned with fever for three days before his family took him to the closest health centre in northern Cameroon, but it was too late. He died of malaria that day.

Mohamat's death was part of a spike this year in malaria fatalities that local health officials attribute to foreign aid cuts by the United States.

An experimental cannabis-derived medication was safer and more effective than placebo and opioids for treating chronic low back pain in two late-stage trials, researchers say.

Treatment with VER-01, an extract from cannabis sativa DKJ127 L. being developed by Munich-based Vertanical, also improved pain-related sleep disturbances along with patients’ physical function and quality of life, according to separate reports of the trials.

“VER-01 could transform how we care for patients with chronic lower back pain,” Dr. Charles Argoff of Albany Medical College, who coauthored one of the reports, said in a statement.

“The results of the Phase 3 studies bring hope to millions living with chronic pain that, if approved, VER-01 could deliver effective pain relief while addressing key safety challenges of current therapies,” said Argoff, a past president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

In one randomized trial in 820 patients with chronic low back pain, improvements were seen with VER-01 compared with a placebo after 12 weeks and were sustained over 12 months of treatment. The VER-01 group reported a nearly 3-point decrease in pain on a 10-point scale, on average, researchers reported in Nature Medicine.

The VER-01 group also reported significantly greater improvements in sleep quality and physical function compared with the placebo group, researchers said.

A second Phase 3 study, published in Pain & Therapy, compared VER-01 with opioids in 384 patients with chronic low back pain. Along with superior pain control, patients receiving VER-01 reported less constipation, less laxative use, and better sleep than patients taking opioids.

In both trials, pain reduction with VER-01 was particularly pronounced in patients with severe pain or pain from nerve disorders, the researchers said.