The Digest: A Marijuana-Derived Medication Is Now Approved For Sale in the U.S.
It could be young patients' only shot at relief.
A BREAKTHROUGH DECISION. For the first time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a medication derived from marijuana. It's called Epidiolex. GW Pharmaceuticals developed the drug to treat two rare forms of epilepsy that manifest during childhood, Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. In clinical trials, the medication reduced patient seizures by up to 40 percent.
BETTER FOR PATIENTS. As for patients, keyhole surgeries boast a number of benefits over open surgeries. They reduce a patient's chances of developing a hernia by 50 percent, require fewer post-surgery painkillers, and decrease infection rates. However, because keyhole procedures require a high level of technical expertise, they are often eschewed in favor of open surgeries.
Versius can change that by training surgeons in just a fraction of the time. For example, a surgeon typically needs 60 to 80 hours of practice to learn how to manually tie a surgical knot inside a patient through a keyhole incision. With Versius, a surgeon can learn the procedure in just 30 minutes. This could increase the number of doctors equipped to perform keyhole surgeries, making the procedures themselves more common.
WAITING ON THE RED TAPE. Versius isn't the first or only surgical robot. However, these bots are becoming easier to use and more mobile. Someday, hospital staff could simply wheel Versius in and out of operating rooms as needed — if regulatory bodies decide to approve the surgical bot for clinical use, that is.