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WATCH: Medical cannabis and epilepsy – exploring the evidence

Experts discuss the real-world evidence behind medical cannabis and epilepsy.

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Experts discuss the real-world evidence to support the prescribing of medical cannabis in children with refractory epilepsy.

On Tuesday 22 February, families and campaigners joined researchers in highlighting the current real-world evidence base and the need for population-wide prescribing for children suffering daily, life-threatening seizures.

The event, which was hosted by Drug Science and Medcan Support at the House of Lords  brought together MPs, regulatory bodies and charities to highlight the lack of NHS prescriptions for medical cannabis.

More than three years since the former Home Secretary Sajid Javid, changed the law to allow for medical cannabis prescriptions, only three have been issued on the NHS.

Drug Science researcher, Dr Rayyan Zafar, presented findings collected by the charity through Bayesian analysis, which show that medical cannabis has a 96 per cent chance of significantly reducing seizures in children with severe epilepsy.

Patients also demonstrated a reduction in the use of anti-epileptic drugs after beginning treatment and an overall improvement in quality of life.

A follow-up study  reported that seizure frequency was reduced by 86 per cent.

Investigators reported no significant adverse effects and some patients were reported as being in remission, or seizure-free, following treatment.

Zafar breaks down the evidence with Medcan Support’s Dr Callie Seaman, who is an experienced plant scientist and epilepsy patient who has used cannabis for more than 20 years to manage her own symptoms.

“We’ve collected data from 20 families of children with refractory epilepsy, some of whom were having up to 10,000 seizures a month. These patients are all taking whole-plant cannabis, cannabis which contains CBD, THC and all the other minor cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids.

“We found that in the cohort of 20 patients there was an 86 percent reduction in seizure frequency which is quite an outstanding number. This was fairly consistent, every patient did see a reduction in seizures and there were three patients which went into complete remission after so many years of not responding to anti-epileptic drugs.”

But despite Drug Science reporting that prescription costs have come down over the last year, families are still forced to fundraise hundreds of pounds a month until this treatment becomes available on the NHS.

Dr Seaman added: “Studies like these are fantastic in that we can understand more about the medication, more about those different strains and terpene profiles, and what has those positive and negative effects.

“Everyone sees epilepsy as just seizures, there is so much more to epilepsy. There’s the comorbidities, depression, the lack of sleep, the anxiety, fear that we’re going to have a seizure at any point, cannabis helps with all those symptoms, not just the seizure control. It helps to improve that quality of life.”

Watch the full interview here 

Video editing: Jack Pierce

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Sarah Sinclair is a respected cannabis journalist writing on subjects related to science, medicine, research, health and wellness. She is managing editor of Cannabis Health, the UK’s leading title covering medical cannabis and CBD, and sister titles, Cannabis Wealth and Psychedelic Health. Sarah has an NCTJ journalism qualification and an MA in Journalism from the University of Sunderland. Sarah has over six years experience working on newspapers, magazines and digital-first titles, the last two of which have been in the cannabis sector. She has also completed training through the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society securing a certificate in Medical Cannabis Explained. She is a member of PLEA’s (Patient-Led Engagement for Access) advisory board, has hosted several webinars on cannabis and women's health and has moderated at industry events such as Cannabis Europa. Sarah Sinclair is the editor of Cannabis Health. Got a story? Email sarah@handwmedia.co.uk / Follow us on Twitter: @CannabisHNews / Instagram: @cannabishealthmag

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