Epidiolex is the first pharmaceutical treatment based on cannabidiol (a cannabis derivative) to process the epileptic seizures in patients with two serious and rare forms of this disease. This medicine is developed by GW pharmaceuticals, a British biopharmaceutical company that develops new therapeutic products derived from cannabis. In a press release, the laboratory announced that the advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration had just approved its use in the United States. The drug can therefore be delivered by prescription to certain epileptic patients.
Health authority approval is limited to the treatment of seizures caused by Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) and the Dravet syndromein patients aged 2 years and older.
Both diseases, which develop in childhood, are devastating forms of epilepsy with high rates of morbidity and mortality. More than 90% of patients with LGS or Dravet syndrome have multiple seizures per day, putting them at constant risk of falls and injury.
GW pharmaceuticals has also submitted a marketing authorization application (MA) to the European Medicines Agency. The decision of the European health authorities should be made in early 2019.
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