In addition to the fee, applications to the new panel entail an 11-page form in which the patient must explain why his or her case is exceptional

A new government panel to allow patients medicinal cannabis has received almost no applications after the Home Office imposed a fee of £3,655 a patient.

Set up by Sajid Javid, the home secretary, three weeks ago, the panel was hailed as a “breakthrough” by advocates for thousands of patients who say cannabis helps relieve their suffering. It can issue a licence to prescribe the illegal class B drug. However, it is understood that fewer than five applications have been received. Patients have condemned the panel as a “farce” and “gesture” aimed at placating the public and media.

Applicants for a licence, who must be clinicians on the General Medical Council’s specialist register, fill in an 11-page form detailing every drug prescribed to the patient with