CANnabinoids for Drug Resistant Epilepsy (DRE) in Adults and Children

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder affecting more than 50 million people globally, including more than 260,000 Canadians. Cannabidiol (CBD) reduces seizure frequency and improves quality of life for adults and children with Drug Resistant Epilepsy (DRE). Several uncontrolled, small, open label studies reported that CBD-enriched Cannabis Herbal Extract (CHE) resulted in a reduction of seizure frequency, but we lack critical information on efficacy, comparative effectiveness and dosing of CBD and ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in children and adults with DRE. CAN-DRE is an early phase, triple-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial to answer the questions of if cannabinoids work to reduce seizures in children and adults (24 months to 55 years) with DRE and if CBD works better in an isolate or in a CBD-enriched Cannabis Herbal Extract. The primary outcome of CAN-DRE is reported monthly seizure count from baseline to maintenance phase.

NCT Number	NCT07023744
Lead Sponsor	University of Manitoba Collaborators: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Research Manitoba
Conditions	Drug Resistant Epilepsy
Enrollment	90 participants
Start Date	2026-07-27
Primary Completion	2028-03-31 (estimated)
Study Completion	2028-03-31 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-06-11