[ParbatiPurist]

Ireland: Cannabis-based pain drug nears approval for Ireland

Tom Lyons

Irish Independent

Sunday 13 May 2012

A cannabis-based pain-relief spray backed by Tom Lynch, the pharmaceutical veteran, received a regulatory high last week by being recommended for approval in 10 more European countries, including Ireland.

GW Pharmaceuticals, the AIM-listed developer of the new treatment called Sativex, already sells the product in Britain, Spain, Germany and Denmark, and hopes to launch it here this year. Justin Gover, managing director of GW said the only obstacle remaining to selling the spray in Ireland was for it to be added to the controlled drug schedule which will allow it be prescribed by doctors here.

"We'll launch the product," he said, "as soon as this is completed."

Sativex has been developed to ease muscle stiffness and spasms associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), but Gover said it was also being trialled to treat pain associated with cancer. The market for Sativex as a treatment for MS sufferers is estimated at €100m in Europe by analysts, but as a cancer pain relief would be worth considerably more.

Lynch, a former senior executive in Elan and founder of Amarin, is both a non-executive director and shareholder of GW.

"There are a very small number of European pharma executives who have guided small companies to become major international companies. Lynch is one of those people and that is our aspiration," Gover said.

Sativex is not addictive and has no withdrawal symptoms, and users experience no cannabis-like effects.

http://www.independe...nd-3105713.html

[Arnold Layne]

What bollox! Its plain old Cannabis Tincture, any grower can make their own for a fraction of the cost and with at least twice the efficacy.

Its a con, a rip-off. Grow your own find that perfect strain that fits your needs. Why bother with a bland blend designed to make huge profits; and which, on the therapy side, is designed to cover everything in a feeble re-jigging of THC and CBD levels?

Yes, Sativex helps some, and helps them a lot. But for most of us, we can grow our own meds ~ why should GW Pharma make a mint out of our suffering and our therapy? The whole "GW Pharma" set-up makes my blood boil, and my piss burn like hydrochloric acid. Talk of re-inventing the wheel! All this fuss over a 50/50 re-jiggery of THC and CBD levels? Easy to achieve with the right strain in your grow room. And you do not need a massive R & D budget, either. Or a profit sheet. Or investors. Just a light bulb and some compost.

[StevieRays]

I don't know why they keep saying it is approved when it is near impossible to get, it might as well not exist for 90% of sufferers.