Drug maker says marijuana oil helped reduce seizures in kids

Experimental marijuanabased drug Epidiolex significantly reduced convulsive seizures among some epilepsy patients in a recent clinical trial, according to GW Pharmaceuticals, the U. K. company that makes the drug.

Among the drug’s primary ingredients is cannabidiol, better known as CBD, a marijuana derivative that is not psychoactive. It is anecdotally known for helping some patients suffering from epilepsy, Crohn’s disease and other diseases. There is little scientific evidence backing up patients’ experiences with CBD, which is one of the reasons GWPharmaceuticals’ firstofits- kind study is so important.

Epidiolex is being studied to treat Dravet syndrome, a rare type of epilepsy for which there are no treatments approved in the U. S.

GWPharmaceuticals is in talks with federal regulators, hoping that Epidiolex will be introduced to the U. S. market— whichwould make it the first prescription drug in America that is extracted from cannabis.

“The results of this Epidiolex pivotal trial are important and exciting as they represent the first placebocontrolled evidence to support the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical cannabidiol in children with Dravet syndrome, one of the most severe and difficultto- treat types of epilepsy,” Dr. Orrin Devinsky, of New York University Langone Medical Center’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and the trial’s principal investigator, said in a statement. “These data demonstrate that Epidiolex delivers clinically important reductions in seizure frequency together with an acceptable safety and tolerability profile, providing the epilepsy community with the prospect of an appropriately standardized and tested pharmaceutical formulation of cannabidiol being made available by prescription in the future.”

Many families have moved to Colorado to seek CBD treatment for their children, many of whom suffer from epilepsy and other debilitating ailments. TheDenver Post chronicled one family’s experience in a series, “Desperate Journey.”

The Epidiolex study had half of its 120 participants, whose average age was 10 years old, on the study drug and the other half on a placebo. The participant patients were taking an average of three other anti- epileptic medications and had an average of 13 convulsive seizures per month.

Those taking Epidiolex saw a reduction of monthly convulsive seizures of 39 percent while those on the placebo saw a reduction of 13 percent, a statistically significant difference, wrote GWPharmaceuticals.

The executive director of the Dravet Syndrome Foundation said safe and effective treatments are “desperately needed.”

“We are thrilled to learn of these positive results, which bring much- needed hope to the children and families who have been living with these debilitating seizures,” Mary Anne Meskis said in a statement.