GW Pharmaceuticals, the U.K. biotech which is commercializing a cannabis-based drug for multiple sclerosis, says their research collaboration with Otsuka has produced a promising new drug candidate for epilepsy. Pointing to new animal research results from the University of Reading, the biotech says that the natural compound cannabidivarin suppressed seizures in a variety of epilepsy research models.
"This is an enormously exciting milestone in our investigations into non-psychoactive elements of cannabis as treatments for epilepsy," said Ben Whalley, the university investigator who led the study, in a statement. "There is a pressing need for better treatments for epilepsy. It's a chronic condition with no cure and currently in around one third of cases, the currently available treatments do not work, cause serious side-effects and increase fatalities. Currently prescribed drugs to prevent fits can cause significant side-effects to individuals' motion and cognitive abilities that can adversely affect the quality of life for people who have to take them every day."
Whalley and his colleagues found that cannabidivarin also worked in combination with other therapies and does not trigger the kind of "high" associated with the primary ingredient in cannabis. They're planning to wrap their end of the research work at the end of this year. GW and Otsuka will take it from there.
"GW has established a track record of discovering and commercializing such compounds with Sativex now on the market for treating spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis and in late stage development for the treatment of cancer pain," says GW research chief Stephen Wright. "Our research into CBDV has consistently produced highly promising results demonstrating its potential as a novel anticonvulsant and GW hopes during 2013 to advance CBDV into human clinical trials."
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