Pharmaceutical Company Successfully Treats Symptoms of Autism with Cannabinoids
- Zelda Therapeutics has demonstrated successful results from their observational trial on cannabinoid-based medicine in treating symptoms of autism in children
- 7% of treated patients showed significant general overall improvement
- Shares in the company rose by 8% after announcing successful results
Zelda Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company specializing in medicinal cannabis, has announced successful results from their observational trial on autism in Chile.
The trial used 21 autistic children, with an average age of 9, to see if cannabis-based medicines could help alleviate some of the more severe symptoms of autism in patients who had not responded well to pharmaceutical treatments. Over the course of at least a 12-week period, patients were examined by electroencephalogram (EEG), neuropsychological analysis as well as metabolism and genetic tests.
Cannabis extracts were found to be significantly more effective at treating symptoms of autism than the traditional pharmaceuticals, with the cannabis-medicine being well received and tolerated by the patients.
Those treated with cannabinoids exhibited substantial improvements in at least one core symptom including social interaction, language or repetitive behaviours in 71.4% of cases and 66.7% of treated patients showing significant general overall improvement.
Zelda is now planning on taking their research into clinical trials.
Discussing the results of the study, Harry Karelis, Executive Chairman of Zelda, said:
“The results of this observational study are very exciting and supports the anecdotal evidence we have, showing the positive effect medicinal cannabis has on treating autism symptoms.
“Zelda will use this baseline data to design its clinical trials and generate rigorous scientific data that validates the clinical benefit of medicinal cannabis.
“We hope that in the near future Zelda Therapeutics can provide an alternative treatment for sufferers of this condition which is of major global significance.”
These results from this observation trial will help Zelda in the development of its autism clinical trial, with the company expecting the trial to commence within three months of regulatory approvals being obtained and will be conducted over a six to nine-month period.