(GW Pharmaceuticals Press Release2016c). The results from this study compare
favorably with earlier results reported by GW Pharma from its Phase 3 study of
Epidiolex®for the treatment of Dravet syndrome, another rare, genetic, epileptic
encephalopathy. In that study, the drug produced a significant reduction in the
frequency of convulsive seizures assessed over the entire treatment period com-
pared with placebo (p = 0.01) (GW Pharmaceuticals Press Release2016a). Further
therapeutic applications are being investigated for CBD as an adjunct to current
antiepileptic drugs in patients with refractory seizures in the setting of tuberous
sclerosis complex. Although this study is still on-going, the preliminaryfindings
suggest that CBD may be an effective and well-tolerated treatment option for
patients with this condition (Hess et al. 2016 ).
11.4 Conclusion
There continues to be increasing evidence and reason for hope that CBD-based
therapeutics can afford relief for patients and their families living with epilepsy and
other central nervous system disorders (Fasinu et al. 2016 ). Indeed, Epidiolex®now
has orphan drug designation or fast track designation from the FDA in the treatment
of Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet syndromes, as well as tuberous sclerosis complex
and infantile spasms. The success of controlled clinical studies on a cannabis extract
such as Epidiolex®, however, should not diminish further pharmacology and
medicinal chemistry efforts to fully elucidate the mechanisms of CBD’s antiseizure
activity, or to optimize the CBD structure, formulation or dosing regimens in an
effort to improve safety and efficacy for patient populations suffering from seizure
disorders and epilepsy.
Acknowledgements This work was supported in part by funding from the National Institute on
Drug Abuse (R01DA-040460).
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