A baby from Norfolk, England has made headlines this month for a strange reason. That reason? The infant was the first baby to receive a new cannabis-derived medicine, as part of a new drug study.
Shortly after birth, Oscar Parodi was diagnosed with Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy, or ‘HIE’. HIE occurs when an infant’s brain receives very little oxygen or blood flow from the placenta before or during birth. Although between 80-85% of babies diagnosed with HIE survive, 25% of those babies will suffer permanent brain damage.
The study carried out by the Norwich University Hospital, is testing the therapeutic effects of medicine containing cannabinoids, or CBD. Cannabinoids are derived from cannabis under controlled conditions, removing the psychoactive components of cannabis – the THC. Which is also one of the reasons CBD oil has been legalised in Australia.
If the trial is successful, the medicine may be used to treat cases of HIE throughout England.
As part of the study, Oscar was given a single intravenous dose of the drug within 12 hours of his birth. As Oscar develops, researchers will be checking his development at 30 days, six months, and 12 months after birth. Discussing the study, Professor Paul Clarke, the consultant Neonatologist at Norwich University Hospital, had this to say:
It is hoped that [CBD oil] it will be good for preventing seizures and protecting the brains of newborn babies with HIE.
As part of Oscar’s treatment for HIE, he also underwent a 72-hour long cooling treatment in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Using a special jacket, his body temperature was reduced to 33.5 degrees to protect his brain.
Babies born with HIE fall into four categories of severity, including mild, moderate, and severe. The more severe a babies HIE, the higher the chances of brain injury are. Currently, HIE occurs in 3 out of every 1,000 births.
Although testing Cannabinoids on infants may sound risky, researchers are confident that the trial is safe. When addressing the concerns of the public, Professor Clarke went on to say:
The trial has been carefully designed to make it as safe as possible and so we are only giving the babies a minuscule dose at the beginning and we monitor them even more closely than usual.
The Norwich University study is just one study into CBD-derived medicines, as CBD was recently investigated as a Coronavirus cure. You can read all about that here.