Pubdate: Tue, 15 Mar 2016
Source: Independent  (UK)
Copyright: 2016 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author: Jim Armitage

BREAKTHROUGH FOR BRITISH FIRM IN MEDICINAL USE OF MARIJUANA

Firm Says Drug Reduced Seizures in Children With Dravet Syndrome by 39 Per Cent

 From page 2 A British company that has been working for 18 years to 
find medicinal uses for marijuana has had a major breakthrough in the 
treatment of childhood epilepsy.

Yesterday GW Pharmaceuticals, which has a licence from the Home 
Office to grow cannabis, announced final-stage tests on 120 children 
with Dravet syndrome (a type of epilepsy) had successfully reduced 
seizures by 39 per cent. The phase 3 trial of the drug known as 
Epidiolex has been extremely closely watched in the medical 
community, due to the current absence of a cure for the painful and 
dangerous condition. Currently, Dravet sufferers have to take a 
cocktail of medicines but still suffer an average of 13 seizures a month.

For GW, the test results mark a huge breakthrough after many rocky 
years for the company studded by disappointments. Only in January, 
another of its treatments, Sativex, failed tests which were hoped to 
show it helping alleviate pain in cancer sufferers.

Shares in the company jumped 136% after the breakthrough announcement 
yesterday afternoon, closing last night up 293p at 510p.

"The positive outcome of the Phase 3 trial "is a significant 
milestone in the development of Epidiolex as a potential new 
treatment for patients suffering with Dravet syndrome," said GW chief 
executive Justin Gover. He said two further Phase 3 trials were now 
close to completion for another epileptic condition known as 
Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. A Phase 3 trial for a further syndrome, 
tuberous sclerosis complex, commences shortly. There are 150,000 
children in the US with forms of drug-resistant epilepsy and a 
similar percentage in the UK and Europe.

"We are thrilled to learn of these positive results," said Mary Anne 
Meskis, executive director of the Dravet Syndrome Foundation.

Although GW's Sativex treatment did not help cancer patients, it has 
been available in the EU for three years as an effective cure for the 
painful muscle seizures known as spasticity suffered by multiple 
sclerosis patients.

However, in terms of the potential numbers of patients, epilepsy is 
seen as a far bigger area of need. As a result, GW has been able to 
raise $500m of new equity in the US to fund the current series of 
trials. The Dravet drug should be on the market by the end of next 
year in the US and soon after that in Europe.

GW is headquartered in London but has laboratories in Cambridge and 
Porton Down. Its cannabis crop is grown in an undisclosed location 
due to concerns about theft, although the plants they use have been 
biologically engineered not to produce the plant's famous high.

The business was set up with the encouragement of the British 
government by biotech scientists and entrepreneurs Dr Geoffrey Guy 
and Dr Brian Whittle, to examine the medicinal properties of cannabis.

Rather than farm out the patent to bigger companies, GW retains the 
licensing rights to Epidiolex, meaning it will not have to share out 
the profits when the medicine becomes available to the public. The 
company has been working on its epilepsy cures since 2013 and began 
to develop the Epidiolex syrup in October 2014.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom