Pubdate: Mon, 27 Apr 2015 Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Copyright: 2015 Sun-Sentinel Company Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-letters-to-the-editor-htmlstory.html Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159 Author: Scott Powers PROFESSOR PROPOSES TEST OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA As the state's efforts to get a noneuphoric medical-marijuana oil to severely epileptic children move forward, the University of Florida is proposing a study to answer a key question: Does it even work? Dr. Paul Carney, professor at the UF Department of Pediatrics and Neurology, has sent a research proposal to the Florida Department of Health to start finding out. The department is reviewing the requests. Carney has proposed enrolling 50 Florida children with epilepsy in an experiment to see whether a particular brand of medicinal oil drawn from marijuana, called Epidiolex, can reduce their seizures after other drugs were found to be ineffective. The proposal calls for treatment through a statewide network of hospitals, including Orlando Health, which was selected for Central Florida. He's seeking $1 million in state money to pay for the study. Epidiolex, manufactured in Great Britain by GW Pharmaceuticals, has something no other non-euphoric medical-marijuana product has for this kind of treatment: federal approval as a trial "orphan" drug. That makes it available for clinical studies in the United States. Epidiolex has some differences from the non-euphoric medical-marijuana oil likely to be produced under Florida's limited medical-marijuana law adopted last year. It is almost a pure extract of the marijuana chemical cannabidiol, while the products produced in Florida need be only at least 10 percent CBD, and commercial products produced in other states rarely exceed 60 percent CBD. The Epidiolex also does not contain more than trace amounts of other marijuana chemicals that some medical-marijuana advocates believe help in controlling seizures. Some advocates of medical marijuana, such as parents of epileptic children Seth Hyman of Weston and Holley Moseley of Gulf Breeze, are skeptical of Epidiolex, noting that its reputation is that it is less effective than other, less-purified CBD extracts. Still Hyman, who has tried to get his daughter Rebecca into other Epidiolex studies, and Moseley welcome it. Moseley is a Florida business representative for a competing brand of CBD oil called Charlotte's Web. But Carney is her daughter's doctor. And Moseley also is a leader in a network of parents desperate for a CBD oil to treat their children debilitated by seizures, such as her daughter RayAnn. Florida's 2014 medical-marijuana law, bogged down by bureaucratic and legal issues and currently being challenged in court, is months past due and still perhaps months away from taking effect. Meanwhile, the Florida Senate is debating a new law that would expand and fast-track the program, but debate on the measure was delayed Wednesday but could re-emerge. "Research, that's what we need right now, to help medical community come around," Moseley said. "I think human research is essential. We're moving in the right direction. I have nothing but support for it." The University of Florida also is proposing a second project to create a database that would track all Florida patients who use medical marijuana. That project would be run by the school's College of Pharmacy, which is asking for $1.2 million from Tallahassee. The university and its researchers declined to comment to the Orlando Sentinel about their proposals, except to provide brief, written synopses. The Department of Health released the full proposals to the Sentinel. The latest research suggests that Epidiolex may work better than its critics believe. This month, Dr. Orrin Devinsky, a scientist from New York University, released preliminary findings from a study with 137 people that found seizures were reduced 54 percent. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom