Anup D. Patel, MD: CBD Increasing Treatment Options

“It gives patients and their families the most important thing that we can give: hope.”

In 2018, the FDA approved, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) rescheduled, cannabidiol (CBD; Epidiolex, GW Pharmaceuticals) for the treatment of patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) and Dravet syndrome, a pair of rare epilepsies.

This approval was welcomed with open arms by many in the medical community, including Anup D. Patel, MD, the section chief of pediatric neurology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and an associate professor of clinical pediatrics and neurology at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. Patel was part of a long-term study of the therapy in patients which showed the therapy maintained reductions in drop seizures and improvements in overall condition.

At the American Epilepsy Society’s (AES) annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, Patel sat with NeurologyLive to discuss CBD’s potential in the LGS space specifically, as so many patients with LGS are often resistant to other available treatment options. As well, he added that the approval and consequent rescheduling of the drug have opened the door for studying it in other conditions, allowing for CBD to possibly meet some of the needs remaining across several neurologic conditions.