The epileptic refractory to treatment could be treated with cannabidiol (CBD), a major compound of “Cannabis sativa”, non-psychoactive unlike the cannabinoid, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Lancet Neurology.
Researchers at New York University School of Medicine conducted a study with 214 patients, ages 1 to 30. The epileptic received, for 12 weeks, the oral treatment Epidiolex whose active ingredient is Cannabidiol. Patients received 2-5 mg/kg per day of cannabidiol and up to 25 mg/kg or 50 mg/kg per day, depending on the case. Seizures were recorded throughout the study.
The conclusions of these treatments showed an average reduction of 36.5% in the number of attacks per month, and a reduction of more than 50% in the monthly frequency (i.e., on average, 30 attacks per month at the start of the study at 15.8 over the 12 weeks of treatment).
The scientists also observed a good level of tolerance by most patients, despite certain isolated adverse 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, other research must still be carried out”, explains Dr. Orrin Devinsky, director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center who nevertheless affirms the possibility in the future of to be able to definitively recommend cannabidiol as a standard treatment for resistant epilepsy. A cannabidiol versus placebo clinical trial is already underway. Synonymous with spectacular and unpredictable seizures, theepilepsy 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.
Therapeutic 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 the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) has given 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 methods. Neither self-cultivation nor handicrafts are allowed”, specifies the
decree.
Read also:
Infographic: 600,000 epileptics in France
Cannabis may reduce epileptic seizures
Therapeutic cannabis: an 8-year-old girl authorized to use it
