Cannabidiol
Cannabidiol is a prescription anti-seizure medicine used to treat seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, Dravet syndrome, and tuberous sclerosis complex.
🧬 Where this information comes from Click to expand
The clinical label records used on this page are FDA-filed Structured Product Labeling (SPL) retrieved through openFDA. We identified 1 clinical label set within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, strengths, and NDC product-record counts are built separately from matching FDA National Drug Code Directory records. The linked DailyMed document is a representative official source for verification, not the page’s only clinical source. View the linked label on DailyMed →
📖 Cannabidiol: Patient Information Guide
A plain-language walkthrough of Cannabidiol — what it treats, how it works, how it’s taken, side effects, warnings and interactions. Tap any section to expand it.
🎯What it's used for▾
Cannabidiol, available as Epidiolex oral solution, is an FDA-approved prescription anti-seizure treatment for several rare epilepsy conditions.
- Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS): Epidiolex is approved to reduce seizures in patients 1 year of age and older with this severe form of epilepsy that usually begins in childhood.
- Dravet syndrome (DS): Epidiolex is approved to reduce seizures in patients 1 year of age and older with this genetic epilepsy that causes frequent, prolonged seizure episodes.
- Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC): Epidiolex is approved to reduce seizures in patients 1 year of age and older with this genetic condition that causes noncancerous growths in the brain and other organs, often leading to seizures.
⚙️How it works▾
Exactly how Epidiolex prevents seizures in people is not fully understood. Importantly, it does not work by binding to cannabinoid receptors — the pathway typically associated with cannabis. Researchers believe the anti-seizure effect comes through a different mechanism that is still being studied. The medicine is broken down in the liver into active compounds that may also contribute to its anti-seizure effects, though their exact role in humans remains unclear.
💊How it's taken▾
Epidiolex oral solution is taken by mouth twice a day. The dose is adjusted gradually over time based on how well it is working and how well it is tolerated — your prescriber will guide this titration. Food matters: taking Epidiolex consistently with or without food each day helps keep blood levels steady, since fatty meals can significantly increase absorption.
- Use only the calibrated syringes provided — not a household teaspoon or tablespoon
- If needed, Epidiolex can be given through silicone feeding tubes
- Never stop suddenly — taper the dose under your doctor's guidance to avoid a sudden increase in seizures
- Discard any remaining liquid 12 weeks after opening the bottle
🤒Side effects — in detail▾
The most common side effects of Epidiolex include:
- Drowsiness, sedation, or lethargy (especially early in treatment and with higher doses)
- Decreased appetite and weight loss
- Diarrhea
- Elevated liver enzymes (seen on blood tests)
- Fatigue or general weakness
- Rash
- Sleep difficulties
- Vomiting (particularly in people with tuberous sclerosis complex)
Drowsiness is more pronounced when Epidiolex is taken with clobazam or other sedating medicines. Contact your doctor promptly if you notice signs of liver problems — such as yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, or right-sided stomach pain — or if mood changes or suicidal thoughts emerge.
⚠️Warnings & precautions▾
- Liver injury: Epidiolex can cause dose-related rises in liver enzymes, a sign of liver stress. The risk is highest with higher doses and when taken alongside valproate or clobazam. Liver blood tests are required before starting and at regular intervals during treatment. Watch for nausea, right-sided stomach pain, fatigue, yellowing of the skin or eyes, or dark urine.
- Suicidal thoughts and behavior: Like all anti-seizure drugs, Epidiolex carries a small increased risk of suicidal thinking or behavior. Monitor for new depression, mood changes, or any self-harm thoughts, especially in the first weeks of treatment.
- Drowsiness and sedation: Epidiolex can significantly impair alertness, especially early in treatment and when combined with other sedating medicines or alcohol. Do not drive or operate machinery until you know how it affects you.
- Hypersensitivity reactions: Epidiolex can cause allergic reactions including rash, itching, and swelling. Stop the medicine and seek emergency care if these occur. The product contains sesame seed oil — alert your doctor if you have sesame allergies.
- Withdrawal risk: Stopping Epidiolex suddenly can trigger more frequent seizures or status epilepticus (prolonged seizure). Always taper the dose gradually under medical supervision.
🔀What it interacts with▾
Epidiolex interacts with several medications — always give your pharmacist and doctor a complete list of everything you take.
- Valproate: Significantly raises the risk of liver enzyme elevations when used with Epidiolex — more frequent liver monitoring is needed
- Clobazam: Epidiolex raises levels of clobazam's active metabolite, increasing the risk of sedation and liver enzyme elevations; a clobazam dose reduction may be needed
- Stiripentol: Epidiolex raises stiripentol blood levels; watch for stiripentol-related side effects
- Everolimus (and other P-gp substrates like sirolimus, tacrolimus, digoxin taken by mouth): Epidiolex can more than double everolimus levels — close monitoring and dose adjustment required
- Strong CYP3A4 or CYP2C19 inducers (e.g., rifampin): These can lower Epidiolex blood levels, potentially reducing seizure control
- CYP2C19 substrates (e.g., clopidogrel): Epidiolex can raise levels of these drugs, or for prodrugs like clopidogrel, reduce their active metabolite and effectiveness
- Alcohol: Significantly increases Epidiolex absorption and adds to sedation — avoid
- Other CNS depressants (sedatives, sleep aids, opioids): Combining with Epidiolex increases drowsiness risk
This is not a complete list of interactions. Always talk with your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping, or changing any medication.
📋Before taking it▾
- Liver disease: Dose adjustments are required for moderate or severe liver impairment; mild liver impairment does not require adjustment
- Liver tests: Blood tests for liver enzymes and bilirubin must be done before starting Epidiolex and monitored regularly throughout treatment
- Sesame allergy: Epidiolex contains sesame seed oil — tell your doctor if you have a sesame allergy
- Prior allergic reaction to cannabidiol or Epidiolex ingredients: The medicine is contraindicated — do not take it
- Pregnancy: Animal studies showed developmental harm at doses similar to or higher than human therapeutic doses; the risk in humans is unknown. Enroll in the EPIDIOLEX Pregnancy Surveillance Program if you become pregnant while taking it
- Breastfeeding: It is unknown whether cannabidiol passes into human breast milk; discuss with your doctor before breastfeeding
- Children under 1 year: Safety and effectiveness have not been established in infants under 1 year of age
- Older adults (over 55): Clinical trials had limited data in this age group; use with extra caution given the higher likelihood of liver, kidney, or heart issues and other medications
📡Pharmacodynamics — effects in the body▾
Epidiolex can affect the heart's electrical rhythm in a dose-dependent way — specifically, it may cause mild QTc prolongation (a slight delay in the heart's electrical reset between beats). At recommended doses taken with a fatty meal, this effect stays below a clinically significant threshold. However, factors like food intake, alcohol, and certain co-medications such as clobazam can increase Epidiolex exposure and may amplify this effect.
Epidiolex also raises creatinine levels in the blood, which can look like reduced kidney function on standard lab tests. However, a dedicated study showed that Epidiolex does not actually reduce the kidney's filtering ability (measured glomerular filtration rate) — the creatinine rise is a known lab effect, not true kidney damage.
🔬Pharmacokinetics — how your body processes it▾
After swallowing Epidiolex, cannabidiol reaches peak blood levels in about 2.5 to 5 hours. Food — especially a high-fat meal — dramatically increases how much is absorbed (up to 5-fold higher peak levels compared to fasting), so consistent dosing habits around meals matter. Cannabidiol is extensively broken down in the liver by CYP2C19 and CYP3A4 enzymes into active metabolites, and it stays in the body for a long time — the half-life (time for blood levels to fall by half) is roughly 56 to 61 hours with regular dosing. The medicine leaves the body primarily through the stool, with only a small amount cleared by the kidneys. People with moderate or severe liver disease absorb significantly more of the drug and require lower doses.
📦How to store it▾
Store EPIDIOLEX in an upright position at 20°C to 25°C (68°F to 77°F); excursions are permitted between 15°C to 30°C (59°F to 86°F) . Do not freeze.
📄 Written from Cannabidiol’s FDA-approved label information, summarized in plain language with AI, and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Every point is grounded in that labeling — nothing is invented. How we use AI →
Supplements & herbs that interact with Cannabidiol
234 supplements and herbal products have documented interactions with Cannabidiol in the licensed clinical database we use. Most are manageable — but your pharmacist should know about everything you take, including vitamins and herbals.
- Major · 10
- Moderate · 184
- Minor · 40
Educational information from a licensed clinical database (Natural Medicines) — see our data sources & update cadence. Not medical advice: an interaction being documented does not mean it will happen to you; do not start or stop medications or supplements without professional guidance.
🩺 Pharmacist Counseling Corner
Quick, plain-English answers to the questions patients ask most about Cannabidiol — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.
What exactly is Epidiolex, and how is it different from regular CBD products you can buy online? ▾
Does Epidiolex make you feel 'high' like marijuana? ▾
Should I take Epidiolex with food or on an empty stomach? ▾
Why does my doctor want to do blood tests while I'm on Epidiolex? ▾
Can I stop taking Epidiolex if I feel like it's not working or I don't like the side effects? ▾
Is it safe to take Epidiolex during pregnancy? ▾
Is Cannabidiol available over the counter? ▾
When was Cannabidiol first available? ▾
Who makes Cannabidiol? ▾
💬 Answers drafted from Cannabidiol’s FDA-approved label information, summarized in plain language with AI, and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Grounded in that labeling — nothing is made up. How we use AI →
🧰 Keep exploring
💊 How Cannabidiol comes
Cannabidiol is available in 1 form. Different forms and brands can have different approved uses, doses, schedules, and directions. Follow the instructions for your exact product, and do not switch forms without guidance from your prescriber or pharmacist.
Oral solution
How this form is used
- Epidiolex is used to treat seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome in patients 1 year of age and older
- Epidiolex is used to treat seizures associated with Dravet syndrome in patients 1 year of age and older
- Epidiolex is used to treat seizures associated with tuberous sclerosis complex in patients 1 year of age and older
- Epidiolex is taken by mouth twice daily using only the calibrated oral syringes provided — not a household spoon
- Epidiolex should be taken consistently with respect to meals each day to reduce variability in how much is absorbed
- Epidiolex can be given through silicone feeding tubes (such as nasogastric or gastrostomy tubes) when oral intake is not possible — do not use PVC or polyurethane tubes
- Discard any unused Epidiolex 12 weeks after first opening the bottle
📊 Cannabidiol across the U.S. market
How Cannabidiol appears in the FDA’s National Drug Code Directory — including its dosage forms, strengths, brand names, manufacturers, and FDA-listed product records. These are directory records, not sales or prescription volume.
Also listed with the FDA, not a patient dose form: Powder (8) — bulk drug substance sold to compounders/manufacturers and multi-item kits. These aren’t counted in the dose-form total above.
Share of FDA-listed product records by manufacturer — FDA National Drug Code Directory. Record counts are not sales or prescription volume.
📈 How widely Cannabidiol is used
A general measure of how commonly Cannabidiol is prescribed, based on Medicaid — one of the largest public drug programs. The figure below is prescriptions filled in Q1–Q4 2025, summed across every form and brand of the drug.
Think of this as a proxy for how widely Cannabidiol is used, drawn from freely available public data. Medicaid is just one program — these numbers don’t include Medicare, other government coverage, or commercial and cash-pay prescriptions, so real-world use is higher than what’s shown here.
How commonly is Cannabidiol prescribed? Of the 1,597 medications we measure, Cannabidiol ranks #437 by Medicaid prescriptions — more than 73% of them.
Utilization by Cannabidiol product
Pick a product to see its own Medicaid numbers. Each chip is one clinical product — a specific strength & dosage form as defined by RxNorm — with brand-name and generic versions combined.
cannabidiol 100 MG/ML Oral Solution
Summed across the 2 of 4 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2058900
Shares are of the Medicaid prescriptions shown here. Product grouping follows RxNorm (the National Library of Medicine’s drug terminology), so “one product” means one strength & dosage form regardless of manufacturer. Dollar figures are gross Medicaid reimbursement before mandatory rebates — rebates (often large, especially for brand-name drugs) are confidential, so actual net cost to Medicaid is lower than shown.
Source: Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data (CMS), aggregated by generic ingredient — summed across every NDC (all brands, strengths, salt forms and dosage forms) of Cannabidiol, and across all states and both fee-for-service and managed-care claims. A general popularity signal; it excludes Medicare, commercial insurance and cash prescriptions, so it is not total U.S. use. Based on the 2 of 4 listed Cannabidiol NDCs with Medicaid activity.
🔍 Compare Cannabidiol products
A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Cannabidiol — across manufacturers, strengths, and dosage forms, grouped by form with each product’s manufacturer and how the FDA approved it. The same medicine may be made and packaged by different companies, so a single drug can have many directory entries. (It’s also why a refill can look different — a new shape, color, or box — even though it contains the same medication.)
| Strength | Route | Manufacturer / Labeler | Category ⓘ | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 💊Oral solution | ||||
| 100 mg/mL | Oral | Greenwich Biosciences, LLC | NDA | View NDC → |
| 100 mg/mL | Oral | Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. × 2 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
| 1 kg/kg | — | Symrise AG | BULK INGREDIENT | View NDC → |
| 💊Bulk drug substance | ||||
| 1 kg/kg | — | Agno Pharma Jiangsu × 2 listings | BULK INGREDIENT | View NDC → |
| 10 kg/10 kg | — | Biophore India Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd | BULK INGREDIENT | View NDC → |
| 1 g/g | — | Indena SpA | BULK INGREDIENT | View NDC → |
| 1 kg/kg | — | MSN Life Sciences Private Limited | BULK INGREDIENT | View NDC → |
| 1 kg/kg | — | Purisys LLC | BULK INGREDIENT | View NDC → |
| 1 kg/kg | — | Rolabo Outsourcing S.L. | BULK INGREDIENT | View NDC → |
| 1 kg/kg | — | SCI PHarmtech, Inc. | BULK INGREDIENT | View NDC → |
Showing 12 of 12 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 12 Cannabidiol NDCs →
📈 What people report — real-world data (FDA FAERS)
After a medicine reaches the market, patients, doctors and drugmakers can send the FDA reports of problems they think may be linked to it. Here’s what’s been reported for Cannabidiol — a signal of what to watch for, not proof the drug caused it.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). These are voluntary reports — they don’t prove the drug caused the effect, and counts reflect how often something was reported, not how often it actually happens. Reports also often name the very problem the medicine is taken for — a common reason to file one is that the drug didn’t help — so for a pain reliever you may see “pain” high on the list; that points to why the report was filed, not to the drug causing the symptom. This counts every report that lists Cannabidiol in any role, so the total runs higher than the FDA’s official dashboard, which counts only cases where the drug is the suspect. For the authoritative figures, see the FDA FAERS Public Dashboard. Always talk to your pharmacist or doctor.
🏛️ The road to your pharmacy
How Cannabidiol went from FDA review to the pharmacy shelf — the key milestones in its regulatory journey.
Source: Drugs@FDA.
🚨 Recall history
A recall is when a specific batch of a medicine is pulled from the market — usually a manufacturing issue, not a problem with the drug itself. Class I is most serious, Class III least.
Source: openFDA drug enforcement (recall) reports.
RxNorm Concept Web — From Ingredient to Every Form and Strength
This page starts with one ingredient concept (IN). The branches below show its dose-form concepts (SCDF), then the available clinical drug and strength concepts (SCD). Combination products remain separate concepts with their own pages.
RxCUI 2045371 1 dose form · 1 strength
-
Dose form (SCDF) Oral Solution RxCUI 2058899In current FDA listingsClinical drug / strength (SCD) 100 MG/MLRxCUI 2058900
Look up RxCUI 2045371 in the RxCUI Atlas →
RxNorm is the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s normalized drug vocabulary. Its concept hierarchy can include forms that are not currently marketed; the status on each branch compares that concept with current FDA listings. RxCUIs identify vocabulary concepts, not individual packages or manufacturers.
📦 Supply & shortage status
Whether Cannabidiol is in short supply in the U.S. right now, plus any shortage history the FDA has on record. A shortage usually reflects a manufacturing or demand issue — not a safety problem with the drug.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Drug Shortages database.
🏷️ Sold under these brand names
🏭 Manufacturers & labelers
RxNorm drug class
Cannabidiol belongs to the Other antiepileptics class.
Classified by RxNorm RxClass — the U.S. National Library of Medicine's standardized drug-classification service (Established Pharmacologic Class from the FDA, the ATC drug family from the WHO, and mechanism of action). Reference only, not medical advice.
🔬 Where this comes from
Core label, product, RxNorm, safety, and utilization data on this page come from the sources identified below. AI-written, editorial, and licensed sections are labeled separately.
How we combine label and product data
HelloPharmacist combines public FDA and NLM records; we don’t author the underlying clinical facts. We identified 1 FDA-filed SPL label set within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. The representative label is the starting point for the displayed reference monograph; the 12 largest stored in-scope SPL records, which may include that representative, are compared section by section, and the longest available version of each section is retained. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, product-listed strengths, and product-record counts are aggregated separately from ingredient-matched FDA NDC Directory records; package records listed above are associated with the linked SPL; and the normalized concept hierarchy comes from NLM RxNorm.
For canonical ingredient pages, bounded product-attributed indication and administration excerpts may be added to the AI evidence, and the generator is instructed to preserve available product, brand, route, and form qualifiers instead of treating one label as universal. Where a section is identified as AI-written, its plain-language text is generated from bounded label evidence. New draft drug pages remain in the admin review queue before first publication. Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is the representative DailyMed label linked for verification and dates; it is not the sole source used for the page.
This is general education, not medical advice — always consult your doctor or pharmacist about your medications and any medical condition. For the exact wording of the linked representative label, view that label on DailyMed; some displayed composite sections may come from other in-scope SPL labels. Learn how we use AI and our data sources & update cadence.