Yahoo – AFP,
May 24, 2017
Miami (AFP)
- The first large-scale clinical trial of a cannabis derivative known as
cannabidiol shows it was able to cut the frequency of severe epileptic seizures
by 39 percent, researchers said Wednesday.
Cannabidiol,
or CBD, is derived from cannabis plants, but does not cause users to get high.
The study
in the New England Journal of Medicine comes after years of anecdotal evidence
of cannabidiol's effects.
It focused
on young patients with Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy.
"Cannabidiol
should not be viewed as a panacea for epilepsy, but for patients with
especially severe forms who have not responded to numerous medications, these
results provide hope that we may soon have another treatment option," said
lead investigator Orrin Devinsky, professor of neurology, neurosurgery, and
psychiatry at New York University Langone Medical Center.
"We
still need more research, but this new trial provides more evidence than we
have ever had of cannabidiol's effectiveness as a medication for
treatment-resistant epilepsy."
Researchers
used an experimental liquid form of CBD, called Epidiolex, which is
manufactured by GW Pharmaceuticals.
It has not
been approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration.
A total of
120 children and adolescents, aged two to 18, with Dravet Syndrome were
randomized to receive either a placebo or CBD, in addition to their usual
treatment.
The trial
took place at 23 sites in the United States and Europe over the course of 14
weeks.
"Seizure
frequency dropped in the CBD-treated group by 39 percent from a median of
nearly 12 convulsive seizures per month before the study to about six,"
said the study.
"Three
patients' seizures stopped entirely."
The placebo
group saw a much smaller 13 percent reduction in seizures.
Most
patients reported side effects, most commonly vomiting, fatigue and fever.
A total of
93.4 percent of patients in the CBD group and 74.6 percent of those treated
with placebo experienced side effects, which were generally reported as mild or
moderate.
But eight
patients in the CBD group withdrew from the trial because of side effects,
compared to one participant in the placebo group.
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