Cannabidiol for Epilepsy: New Hope on the Horizon?

doi:10.1016/j.clinthera.2018.07.020

Clinical Therapeutics

Volume 40, Issue 9, September 2018, Pages 1438-1441

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinthera.2018.07.020 Get rights and content

Abstract

Epilepsy is a common neurologic disorder; it is estimated that ∼50 million people are affected worldwide. About one third of those patients are drug resistant, defined as failure to stop all seizures despite adequate trials of at least 2 appropriate medications. There has been an enormous interest in developing antiepileptic drugs with novel mechanisms of action. This review discusses the evidence supporting the anticonvulsant properties of cannabis in humans, focusing on cannabidiol. We begin by exploring the early and somewhat anecdotal evidence that was recently replaced by high-quality data from randomized controlled studies, which subsequently led to the US Food and Drug Administration approval of a purified cannabidiol extract for the treatment of 2 highly refractory pediatric epilepsy syndromes (Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut).

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Conflicts of Interest

Paul Sanmartin reports no disclosures relevant to the manuscript. Kamil Detyniecki has received research support to Yale University for investigator-initiated studies from Eisai, Sunovion, Acorda and Upsher-Smith.

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ReviewCannabidiol for Epilepsy: New Hope on the Horizon?

Abstract

Section snippets

Conflicts of Interest

Lancet

Lancet

Trends Neurosci

Pharmacol Ther

Biochem Pharmacol

Epilepsy Behav

Epilepsy Behav

Lancet Neurol

Biochem Pharmacol

Seizure

Lancet

Review
Cannabidiol for Epilepsy: New Hope on the Horizon?