Authors :
Sirichai Chayasirisobhon, MD – Private practice; Zulaikha Brosdal, Pharmacy administrator – Pharmacy administrator, Department of Pharmacy, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center; Carolyn Patel, Drug Education Coordinator – Pharm.D., Department of Pharmacy, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Orange County, California.; Suresh Gurbani, Director, Pediatric epilepsy program – Pediatric epileptologist, Department of Neurology, Private practice
Rationale: This non-industrially funded study reports efficacy and retention rates of the pharmaceutical-grade cannabidiol (pCBD) add-on therapy at 24 months in treatment-resistant epilepsies at a community-based neurology group.
Methods:
A retrospective chart review of patients who were treated at Southern California Kaiser Permanente centers in California, U.S., and were started on pCBD add-on therapy for the management of the treatment-resistant epilepsies between January 2019 and April 2020, was conducted. pCBD was titrated to the therapeutic dose range of 10-20 mg/kg/day within 3 months of the initiation of the treatment. Efficacy and safety of pCBD were examined in 6-month windows at 6-month, 12-month, 18-month and 24-month periods.
Data analysis: Due to the small sample size, Fisher’s exact test was used to determine two-tailed p-value at < 0.05 statistical significance.