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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom