Jazz Pharmaceuticals is set to acquire GW Pharmaceuticals and gain access to a diversified pipeline of cannabis-based medications, including Epidiolex (cannabidiol), which is approved to treat seizures in patients with therapy-resistant forms of epilepsy, such as Dravet syndrome. The transaction, which involves a cash-and-stock deal totaling…

After some 59 years, the chief drug policy-making entity of the United Nations (UN) has voted to remove cannabis from a listing of narcotics designated as potentially addictive and dangerous, and having little to no therapeutic use. The reclassification by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) opens the door to…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the age range for all Epidiolex (cannabidiol) indications to include patients ages 1 and older, according to its developer, GW Pharmaceuticals (GW). The therapy previously had been approved in the U.S. and in Europe for the treatment of seizures associated…

Use of cannabidiol-based Epidiolex with two anti-epileptic treatments do not appear to raise major safety concerns, with a small rise in blood concentrations of Diacomit (stiripentol) and no changes of clinical importance with Depacon (sodium valproate) seen overall in…

The United Kingdom Home Office has changed the classification of GW Pharmaceuticals‘ Epidyolex — a treatment for epileptic conditions including Dravet syndrome — from a Schedule 2 drug to a Schedule 5 drug. This move will make the medication easier to obtain. “The decision to move Epidyolex…

Add-on treatment with Epidiolex — an oral form of cannabidiol (CBD) — effectively drops the frequency of seizures in people with Dravet syndrome and Lennox‑Gastaut syndrome (LGS), regardless of co-administration with the anti-seizure medication clobazam, according to a review study. The findings, which suggest that CDB…

In a move that will give Dravet syndrome patients easier treatment access, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has reclassified Epidiolex (formerly GWP42003-P) as a non-controlled substance. In what the agency called a “descheduling,” the action removes all federally controlled-substance restrictions for the oral cannabidiol (CBD) solution that…

Epidiolex (cannabidiol), as an add on-therapy administered at either a low or high dose, leads to similar clinically relevant reductions in the frequency of convulsive seizures in children with treatment-resistant Dravet syndrome, Importantly, a lower Epidiolex dose shows a better safety and tolerability profile when compared to the higher dose.

The European Commission has approved Epidyolex (cannabidiol) as an add-on therapy to clobazam (brand names Onfi and Sympazan) for the treatment of seizures associated with Dravet syndrome and Lennox‑Gastaut syndrome (LGS) in patients 2 and older. This decision, which follows the favorable opinion of the…

The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), an arm of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), is recommending approval of GW Pharmaceutical’s oral cannabidiol solution as an add-on to clobazam (Onfi and Sympazan) for treating seizures in children and adults, ages 2 and older, with Dravet syndrome or  Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. The…