The form of epilepsy examined in the study is called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Investigators conducted clinical trial simulations for the effect of 20 mg/kg/day cannabidiol on seizure frequency in patients with this syndrome.

"The effects of cannabidiol on seizure frequency in Lennox-Gastaut patients could be explained entirely through estimated elevations of blood levels of clobazam, which might mean that cannabidiol in itself may not have any, or at best limited, antiepileptic effects," said senior author Geert Jan Groeneveld, MD, PhD, of the Centre for Human Drug Research, in The Netherlands.

Dr. Groeneveld also co-authored an accompanying editorial that highlights some of the shortcomings of past clinical trial analyses on cannabidiol's effectiveness for reducing seizures.

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Journal Reference:

1. Kirsten Riber Bergmann, Karen Broekhuizen, Geert Jan Groeneveld. Clinical trial simulations of the interaction between cannabidiol and clobazam and effect on drop‐seizure frequency. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2019; DOI: 10.1111/bcp.14158