Cannabis-based drugs gain health cover in UK

Two cannabis-based medicines for patients with severe epilepsy or multiple sclerosis have been approved for use by the National Health Service, or NHS, in England.

The United Kingdom's drugs advisory body, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, or NICE, issued new guidelines recommending that the two medicines receive reimbursement by NHS England.

Doctors will now be allowed to prescribe Epidyolex for patients older than two years who suffer from severe forms of treatment-resistant epilepsy.