Cannabis Health Insider

The use of Epidiolex, a cannabis oil to treat epilepsy is expensive as per NIH. The medical advisory of the UK has said that this drug can reduce seizures in epilepsy. But, due to its high cost, one can’t use it to treat epilepsy in children.

Can cannabis oil treat both types of epilepsy?

Epilepsy is a disorder of the CNS. It affects the activity of the brain and can lead to unusual behavior and loss of awareness. It can also cause seizures to occur. The symptoms of seizures may vary broadly.

A group may just blankly stare for a few seconds while the other may frequently twitch its arms and legs. A single episode of seizure doesn’t imply that one has epilepsy. But two unprovoked seizures can lead to a diagnosis of epilepsy.

Often, medicines and surgery can control seizures. Some people may need lifetime therapy to reduce seizures while in others, after a time, the symptoms go away. But in children with epilepsy, the condition may worsen with age.

The evidence has shown that prescribing cannabis oil can control seizures in these children. But then again, the use of cannabis oil to treat epilepsy is too costly. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has stated that it doesn’t allow the use of Epidiolex to treat two severe forms of Epilepsy.

Thes are; Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Epidiolex is cannabidiol mixed with clobazam (an anti-seizure drug). The NICE doesn’t advise this drug because of its unclear long-term effects besides the high cos

Epidiolex can reduce the number of seizures in epileptic children

The Department of Health and Social care has asked NICE to check whether the NHS in England can use the cannabis oil, used in the U.S. to treat rare conditions that begin in childhood. The NICE has found that this oil has no psychoactive component like THC, which makes a cannabis user ‘high’.

And it has said that this oil can reduce the number of seizures but still the body has concerns about the validity of its economic models. The NICE committee has also stated that the GW Pharma (the company that provides this oil) hadn’t assessed the possibility of oil to become less efficient over time. That is also the case in other medicines to treat epilepsy.

Currently, only a limited number of parents have a medical license for using cannabis oil to treat epilepsy. Besides having a valid UK license, some people have resorted to buying it from abroad. At present, the UK hasn’t approved the use of Cannabidiol, but this may change in the future.

Also read- Can Hemp Oil Treat Epilepsy in Dogs?

A Professor at Imperial College London has stated that the useful medicines on the NHS, derived from cannabis, can be ‘a lost cause’ after the lack of these guidelines. A spokesperson for the Cannabis Patient Advocacy Support Services has also told that this news was quite upsetting for the parents, as this oil has helped children in many cases.

Overall, the draft guidance by NICE has shown that the use of cannabis oil to treat epilepsy is too costly and it may have long-term effects. The GW Pharma has assured that by working with NICE, it is trying to focus on the issues raised in the draft guidance. And it has aimed to ensure that patients can have access to this medicine on the NHS.