In early July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Epidiolex® (cannabidiol or CBD), an oral solution derived from marijuana, for the treatment of two severe pediatric seizure disorders. Epidiolex® is the first, yes, the first, FDA-approved medicine made from a purified extract of the marijuana plant—all natural and nothing synthetic.
Studies have confirmed what has been reported anecdotally about CBD oils—that they are helpful in treating seizures. But stories that circulate like rumors have always been incomplete if not disappointing. That said, starting this autumn, parents whose children suffer from Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet syndromes will have a safer and more reliable treatment than CBD products currently hawked on the Internet or sold in marijuana dispensaries.
FDA approves first drug derived from marijuana.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) approved Epidiolex® (cannabidiol, or CBD), a medication extracted from marijuana, for the treatment of two severe pediatric seizure disorders, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome. CBD is a compound typically found in very small quantities in the marijuana plant, and it has been of interest to scientists and the public for several years due to its anti-seizure properties and other possible therapeutic benefits. The approval comes at the end of a four-year series of trials showing the benefits of CBD in relieving the symptoms of these seizure disorders, which are highly resistant to existing treatments.
Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet syndromes are extremely debilitating. Children often suffer multiple seizures per day, they are likely to have developmental problems and are at high risk for early mortality. For several years, desperate parents with children suffering from these disorders sometimes relocated to states where marijuana had been legalized to obtain CBD oils, since this compound had been reported anecdotally to be helpful.
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