GW Pharmaceuticals has become the first firm to win European approval for a drug derived from the cannabis plant.
Epidyolex treats patients, mostly children, who suffer from two severe forms of epilepsy: Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome. Sufferers can endure up to 74 full-blown “drop seizures” a month, in which they shake and fall down.
The treatment is already approved in the US and it is thought that about 40,000 patients in Europe could benefit from Epidyolex.