Pubdate: Thu, 29 May 2003
Source: Hour Magazine (CN QU)
Copyright: 2003, Communications Voir Inc.
Contact:  http://www.hour.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/971
Author: Charlie McKenzie
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?323 (GW Pharmaceuticals)

TAKE TWO TOKES, CALL ME IN THE A.M.

Shares in GW Pharmaceuticals, a British firm pioneering in
cannabis-based medicines, hit an all-time high recently when Germany's
Bayer AG Inc. (the Aspirin folks) acquired rights to its first
marketable product. Bayer will pay GW $41-million (U.S.) for exclusive
rights to market Sativex, a cannabis-based product derived from the
40,000 marijuana plants GW grows each year at a secret location
somewhere in the English countryside. The drug, which is sprayed
beneath the tongue, will be available in the U.K. later this year for
multiple sclerosis patients and is also being studied for treating
pain caused by cancer and spinal cord injury. The British government
has already indicated it will alter cannabis laws to allow doctors to
prescribe Sativex. The deal also gives Bayer marketing rights for
other European countries, as well as Canada. The lucrative but more
difficult U.S. market (see: paranoia, stupidity, George Bush, et al.)
is not part of the deal. Dr. Mark Ware, who heads a cannabis research
project in pain management at McGill University, welcomes these
developments. "I haven't seen the clinical trial data as yet," he
said, "but arguably they [GW-Bayer] are leading the way for the
non-smoking application of medicinal cannabis.

"Most patients presently smoke it," he explained. "They seem to prefer
that delivery mechanism, but that's only because they're limited by
what's presently available."

Raised in Jamaica, Dr. Ware trained in medicine at the University of
the West Indies. He first became aware of the possibilities of
cannabis use for pain management while working with adult sickle cell
patients and moved to Montreal in 1999 to get involved in medical
marijuana research. For Dr. Ware, the idea of an oral cannabis spray
presents an interesting option. "We might actually see such a product
in this country in a couple of years," he said. "I suggest keeping an
eye on it." 
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