Thirteen advisers at the Food and Drug Administration unanimously supported the first ever government approval of a drug made from cannabis on Thursday.
The medication, called Epidiolex, could be on its way to being cleared by the end of June.
Epidiolex is made from a purified ingredient in marijuana called cannabidiol and would be administered in a syrup. The medication is intended to treat a rare form of epilepsy called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome in children.
The FDA said that most patients with these disease suffer from uncontrolled daily seizures despite treatments. The seizures put them at high risk for developmental disabilities.
Epidiolex does not have THC in it which is the component in marijuana that produces the “high” feeling. According to the FDA staff, the medication has “a negligible abuse potential.”
