Sydney financier Barry Lambert, who is estimated to be worth $350 million, and wife Joy have made the multi-million-dollar cheque out to The University of Sydney for it to explore the benefits of the controversial treatment.
Mr Lambert's granddaughter, Katelyn, has been suffering from a form of crippling epilepsy called Dravet syndrome since she was six months old.
People living with epilepsy who suffer from uncontrolled seizures have reported some beneficial effects and reduced seizures when they’ve used a liquid form of medical cannabis, according to a recent report.
The study by New York University Langone Comprehensive Epilepsy Centre, gave 213 child and adult patients with 12 different types of severe epilepsy cannabidiol, or liquid marijuana, daily for 12 weeks. It found that of the 137 people who completed the study, the number of seizures fell by an average of 54 per cent — although some also reported severe side effects.
Mr Lambert said Katelyn was a catalyst for his donation but he wanted the world, not just his granddaughter, to benefit from medical cannabis research.
'It's very hurtful when they have a seizure. No one wants to see a child sick when they're young,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
'You want to do something for them, we can do something for her in a financial sense but [we can help] the whole world.'
But Mr Lambert is no stranger to helping others
The donation will allow the university to create a multi-year program, which aims to increase its clinical and scientific cannabinoid-related research and eventually produce medical marijuana.
The initiative's priority will be understanding how the 10 variations of cannabinoids can be used to treat epilepsy, particularly CBD. It will also explore the diseases that can be treated with cannabis and begin to move in the direction of clinical trials.
Dr. Michael Spence, vice chancellor of the University of Sydney, said the program puts Australia ahead of countries such as the Netherlands and United States in cannabinoid science.
