At the end of July this year, the European Medicines Agency recommended that the drug Epidiolex be allowed to sell. The Swedish Medicines Agency believes that this will be a reality already this fall.
- Yes, that's what you would expect. And that is then an approval that applies in all countries in the EU, says Per Claesson, cannabis coordinator at the Swedish Medicines Agency, to the radio.
The drug is intended to prevent epileptic seizures in children with certain severe forms of epilepsy, such as Dravet's syndrome, which can cause hundreds of seizures a day. The medicine contains the cannabis substance CBD, but not the substance THC that produces intoxicating effects.
About 70 children in Sweden live with the disease Dravets syndrome.
Medical cannabis is not approved as a drug in Sweden, but doctors can apply to the Swedish Medicines Agency to print it.
The first license was granted in 2017. Since then, the Swedish Medicines Agency has granted a total of around 50 licenses.