In Australia, over 200,000 people live with epilepsy, a chronic neurological condition that is often characterised by seizures. Thousands are hospitalised every year for epilepsy, and even with anti-seizure medication, some people continue to experience mild to severe seizures. Between 2018 and 2019, the condition accounted for over $300 million in national health expenditure. Epilepsy not only weighs heavily on people’s wallets but also their lives, demanding that better treatments be made available. That’s where weed comes in.
European-based pharmaceutical company MGC Pharma (ASX: MXC) has dedicated itself to the cause with its ethically sourced plant-inspired medicines, i.e. CBD-based CannEpil drug. It is designed to treat drug-resistant epilepsy with a combination of THC and CBD—cannabis and marijuana compounds. These help control and reduce the frequency of seizures while also helping people with epilepsy sleep better.
To test its medication, the Company has enrolled its first patient in the Company’s proprietary data collection app and machine learning algorithm, ZAM. It will log the data from the commencement of an observational study monitoring the effects of MGC Pharma’s epilepsy treatment, CannEpil, on the patient.
The trial is supported by the “I am Billy” Foundation, a charity that helps parents and families in navigating the financial challenges of obtaining NHS-funded Medical Cannabis for children.
The co-founder and Managing Director of MGC Pharmaceuticals, Roby Zomer, shared, “The enrolment of the first patient in the ZAM App in the UK, enables us to fully record the impact and efficacy of our products undergoing trials. Consolidation of data is of paramount importance in ensuring the safety and efficiency of MGC’s proprietary products, and we see the integration of both pharma and tech as a revolution in the clinical trial process.”
The ZAM app will record daily metrics from patients, including their symptoms, and the impact of their treatment to establish a baseline. This will give medical practitioners and MGC Pharma a detailed record of the study and an enhanced understanding of the effect of CannEpil on Refractory Epilepsy patients.
In refractory epilepsy, anti-seizure medicines don’t work at all, and patients often need to resort to surgeries and electrical stimulations—which can be expensive and risky. Studies have found cannabis to be an effective recourse.
ZAM will not only provide the patients with reminders on how and when to take medication (per their medical practitioners’ advice), but will also measure treatment progress, and have the ability for a qualified doctor to prescribe alternative medication following a consultation.
As medicine and tech unite, the Company plans on introducing an AI algorithm in the future to use the data collected from ZAM, including results from academic and clinical studies, to predict potential conflicting side effects from multiple treatments. The algorithm will also allow users to order existing prescriptions, and provide their medical practitioner with a comprehensive set of data on treatment and medical history.
Besides having support from epilepsy-related charities and foundations, the Company also recently raised over $740k in funding from Mercer to see through its operations, including clinical trials.
Alinda is a Business Reporter for The Sentiment
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