The U.S. health regulator
approved GW Pharmaceuticals Plc’s epilepsy treatment on Monday, making it the
first cannabis-based drug to win approval in the country and opening floodgates
for more research into the medicinal properties of cannabis.
The drug’s approval permits
its use in patients aged two years and older with Dravet Syndrome (DS) and
Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS), rare childhood-onset forms of epilepsy that are
among the most resistant to treatment.
“This approval serves as a
reminder that advancing sound development programs that properly evaluate
active ingredients contained in marijuana can lead to important medical
therapies,” said Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb.
The drug, Epidiolex, is
made up of cannabidiol (CBD), one of the hundreds of molecules found in the
marijuana plant, and contains less than 0.1 percent of tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC), the psychoactive component that makes people high.
No comments:
Post a Comment