US approved Marijuana based epilepsy drug grown in UK

The US drug regulator has approved the first cannabis-based epilepsy treatment for children as young as two. GW Pharmaceuticals, which grows its own marijuana plants in glass houses in Britain, hopes the drug will be approved in the UK next year.

Justin Glover, the CEO, said  “ This is a new breakthrough in the field of childhood-onset epilepsy after a test carried out for last five years. It has shown in placebo trials it can reduce seizures in certain types of childhood-onset epilepsy and we believe it would be breakthrough in the US and hopefully in the UK next year.”

The US Drug Enforcement Administration is to reclassify CBD in the coming weeks as currently CBD as with other marijuana components is classified as a Schedule I drug by the DEA. Schedule I drug include heroin and LSD as well as Marijuana.

GW Pharmaceuticals is able to extract cannabidiol, which is just one of 80 molecules found in cannabis plants. The drug Epidiolex will be used to treat seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS) or Dravet Syndrome in patients two years of age or older.

According to US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr Scott Gottlieb “ This is an important medical advance. But it is also important to note that this is not an approval of Marijuana or all of its components. This is only the approval of one specific CBD medication for a specific use and based on well-controlled clinical trials evaluating the use of this compound in the treatment of a specific condition.”