The epileptics refractory to treatments could be cured by cannabidiol, (CBD) a major compound of “Cannabis sativa”, not psychoactive unlike the cannabinoid, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), according to the results of a study. study published in the medical journal Lancet Neurology.
Researchers at the New York University School of Medicine performed a study with 214 patients, aged 1 to 30 years. The epileptics received, for 12 weeks, the oral treatment Epidiolex, the active ingredient of which is Cannabidiol. Patients received cannabidiol 2-5 mg / kg per day and up to 25 mg / kg or 50 mg / kg per day, as appropriate. The seizures were recorded throughout the duration of the study.
The results of these treatments showed an average reduction of 36.5% in the number of seizures per month, and a decrease of more than 50% in the monthly frequency (i.e., on average, 30 seizures per month at the start of the study at 15.8 over 12 weeks of treatment).
Scientists have also observed a good level of tolerance by most patients, despite some isolated side effects (drowsiness, loss of appetite, diarrhea, fatigue and convulsions). Two of the patients experienced complete resolution of the seizures.
“In order not to give false hope to families affected by treatment-resistant epilepsy, further research must be carried out”, explains Dr Orrin Devinsky, director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center who nevertheless asserts the possibility in the future of can definitely recommend cannabidiol as a standard treatment for resistant epilepsy. A cannabidiol versus placebo clinical trial is already underway. Synonymous with spectacular and unpredictable seizures,epilepsy is the second cause of consultation with the neurologist, after migraine.
In France, nearly 600,000 people suffer from epilepsy, including 250,000 young people under the age of 20.
Medicinal cannabis in France
Already authorized in several countries, therapeutic cannabis can now be used in the composition of medicines in France. Indeed, the National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety (ANSM) has given the marketing authorization (AMM) for medicines containing “cannabis and its derivatives”. A therapeutic use of this plant “for certain well-defined patients and according to very supervised procedures. Neither self-cultivation nor artisanal products are authorized ”, specifies the
decree.
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