http://www.gwpharm.co.uk/sativex3.asp

Sativex

To assist potential prescribers the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued a Public Information Report on Sativex®, which can be found on the MHRA website. Click here to download the full MHRA report and here to download a supporting Question and Answer (Q&A) document.

Sativex® remains an unlicensed medicine in the UK and, as a cannabis-based medicine, is currently a Schedule 1 Controlled Drug. Previously doctors were required to obtain a licence to prescribe Sativex® from the Home Office but this is no longer a requirement as the Home Office has issued an open general licence permitting any doctor wishing to prescribe Sativex® to do so under the Misuse of Drugs Act. This licence also permits pharmacists to dispense Sativex® and permits patients to possess Sativex® if dispensed in accordance with a bona fide prescription.

As an unlicensed medicine, the decision to prescribe Sativex® for a patient is entirely at the discretion of the prescribing doctor and at their direct responsibility.

If you are a doctor in the UK and would like further information on Sativex® please contact either GW Pharmaceuticals or Bayer Healthcare using the details below:

GW Pharmaceuticals
Tel: 01980 557026
Fax: 01980 557027
Email: enquiries@gwpharm.com

Bayer Healthcare
Tel (during working hours): 01635 563 116
Tel (out of working hours): 01635 563 000
Fax: 01635 563 657
Email: medical.science@bayer.co.uk

Bloody hell Derek, GREAT find! Well I'll eat my hat.

Now, I just have to convince my doctor that it's not the same as "killer skunk"

herzus!

keep up derk this is 2007 news

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?show...&hl=sativex

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?show...&hl=sativex

aww, I got all excited then

The page I quoted is dated 2009 though Bartman, and the links you posted don't go anything like this far.

I think the change is a doctor can now prescribe it for anything he or she feels fit, at his or her total discretion. It seems to no longer be as restricted in what it can be prescibed for as it was either.

In any case, I was given a hint recently that a big change was about to happen a month or so back, if this isn't it, watch for more news.

Derek

The big change may be approval by NICE which is overdue by 4 years, after the initial failure of the trials NICE ordered a new study which has been completed and (apparently) has been successful. If NICE approve Sativex use the Government have said they will move cannabis from schedule I

Quick reminder to interested parties of this initiative to lobby MPs in advance of Parliamentary questions about the availability of Sativex.

PCT's traffic light system will have to be removed if nice accept Sativex as a licensed medicine.

Even if nice approve my gp has already told he wont be prescribing and i will still have to go through the pain clinic, it is a bit of a drag tbh but i dont care as long as i get it when i need it.

Although just to be a bit of a **** i might advertise for a more forward caring thinking GP and see what occurs

I do find it slightly funny how a doctor is now free to prescribe a drug which has - supposedly according to the law - no medical value.

The rumour - more leak actually - I had a couple of months back was that SATIVEX would indeed be fully available on the NHS come March. Well, March has come...

Derek

Well I really hope that its true, not a mdeical user but I find the idea of refusing this medicine to people sickening. Looks like things are on the change

peace

mello

Home Office (October 2006) -


ime tho, its when a GP follows PCT's guidelines in prescribing any unlicensed drug he finds that his freedom is quite restricted. GP's have to follow these guidelines or they will not be covered by any professional insurances they have.

again i quote (local PCT)












lets hope

ha ha

i'm in the throws of trying to convince my MP that it IS the same as killer skunk.


good luck scoobs

.... I get your drift

I've just come from a meeting with Norman Lamb the libdem health and social care spokesperson, Sativex was brought up and the postcode lottery in getting it, i also mentioned the pure hassle you have to go through in getting it.
The Local rag will be running a story on it as well.


He's pro Sativex

does anyone know if Sativex is still only pescribed for MS?

whats the change of someone with Crohn's getting it?

Sativex can be prescribed for any medical condition

ta Jeff, now just need to find a doctor willing to pescribe it

fingers crossed

if i recall, someone posted a load of links on another thread to studies that say how cannabis helps crohns/colitis, to present to their doctor, does anyone know where it is?

The meeting with Norman Lamb went well he's been made aware of the stupidity of the licencing and is going to look into it he's also been made aware of the postcode lotto in attaining it, he's also now been informed about the threats to withold sativex if patients give interviews to the media.
The latter was done by e-mail after the meeting as i didn't know myself until i spoke to someone else about it and i've had to inform the reporter that i couldn't do the article regard the post code lotto etc etc she was furious that patients were threatened in this manner but understands my prediciment and is running a story about a danerous pathway outside a row of OAP bungalows i've spent 15 - 18 months trying to get replaced.

my partner had her gp write to the home office to get sativex as in a letter we got it states she needed to be put on a named patient basis thing, so her gp sent off her details so they can process it an do wotever they need.
its been 4 weeks an i thought id give them a call to see wots goin on, after a while i got thru to the right section an spoke to a bloke who said he was the one who deals with satives licenses, when i gave him her details he phoned us back about an hour later saying that her gp does not need to write or send in her details an can just go ahead and prescribe it for her as they've issued an open license for it now. obviously we got his name an number an forwarded it on to her gp.
gonna speak to gp tomoz to see wots goin on as we told her gp this but havnt heard anything yet.
maybe good news for gettin it, although i am wondering if the guy at the home office new wot he was on about.
il let u know wot happens tomoz

Fingers crossed for your wife Grimweeder it sounds like you have a good GP there.

well she spoke to her gp who said that after making a few calls he discovered that sativex is currently in a "red zone" in my area which basically means that gp's are advised against prescribing it as the cost is so high, (up to £7000 per annum they said) she needs to see a pain specialist to see if he recomends it. which she has been made an apointment for, i will be ensuring she takes with her a copy of the letter i received from the home office in regards to medical cannabis an cannabis based medicine, as it states that sativex supposed to have been made easily an widely available for those whos gps reccomend it an who needs it. if he does say that he cant prescribe purely for the cost i will be getting that in writing and forwarding it to the home office asking for an explanation an reasons as to why she should be forced to break the law when the government say there is an alternative but the NHS cannot/fail prescribe it to those who need it.

makes me wonder if the whole situation would give good grounds to apply for an individual license to grow her own purely for cannabinoid extracts an not to smoke raw bud.
if gw can get one for the same thing an with a gp's reccomendation that she uses a cannabinoid extract with proof they wont give her sativex, there are no real reason why she shouldnt be allowed to make her own especially as the reason for not getting is cos apparently its too expensive where we live. (since when did cost factor into someones well-being?)
the letter we got from the home office states medical weed isnt gonna be legalised mainly cos people smoke it an smoking anything is bad for you.
obviously they see it as you cant have something thats classed as a medication when it actually does harm to someone aswell as wotever good it may do. which to be honest is a fair enough point. an i see where they are coming from.
but still theres no reason why we shouldnt be allowed to produce our own form of sativex especially given the current circumstances.
i dont expect them to actually say yes heres a license now grow ur own but its worth putting my point across to them

thats probably were the whole legalize medi weed arguement goes wrong as people are fighting to be allowed to smoke it which aint gonna happen, they should be fighting for extracts or it to be legal to vape or ingest as required,
il keep u updated anyways.

Its not about cost GR, the red zone is part of the pct /nhs traffic light system for unlicensed drugs.

Its a consultant only prescriptions , G.P.s can prescribe after a shared care agreement has been arranged.

Good Luck, shouldn't be a problem from Pain Management.

My GP told me he rang his insurance company and they said if he prescribed Sativex to me they would make his insurance nul and void. Can they really do that?

thats exactly the same as i was told by 3 doctors in 1999



yes


have you asked your doctor for a referal to your local pain clinic ?

2005

Since I have been disabled all I have done is fight for everything and it has affected my health in such a bad way that the so called help that the system provides is counter productive for folk like me! Going to prision would not even be a punishment cause I would be cared for 24 hours a day instead of 6 hours a week for a carer. I'm fighting there also along with a few other things cause the care is so relieving also. At least I can have a hot drink without burning myself with a carer, cause of tremours..

Sadly this is the case for many folk, my family included.
Doesnt it just feel like they would be happier if you just crawled away and died.
We were told we would get so much help, when in reality other than what is supplied by motability, or is profitable to the council (i.e the re allocations of funds they call grants for a rise recliner and a shower) none of the other help ever materialised. ( and these were fought long and hard for)
each and every bit of aid or assistance and treatment needs to be fought for, local mental health will not help my wife with her depression as they consider it part of her MS so therefore should have specialist treatment, thing is there is no specialist treatment available. ..we have been trying to get rehoused for years. Shouldn't even have been housed where we are given our medical history, have been lied to being told we were on a list for rehousing when we wasnt..I truly sympathise with you m8..I cant lie and say it will get easier...

I cant remember which thread i smentioned my meeting with Norman Lamb but as it was about sativex and its lack of licence i might as well put the reply in this one if you dont mind derek.

On house of commons note paper.

Dear ..... .....

Following our meeting in Northampton on 19th March, I have now received a response from the Rt Hon. Dawm Primarolo MP to the issues raised.


Now the reply on dept health paper.

Thank you for your letter of 29 april to alan johnson enclosing correspondence from your constituent ..... ..... about the availability of the drug Sativex.

Sativex is not licenced for use in the UK. The medicines and Healthcare products REgulatory Agency (MHRA) an Executive Agency of the Dept of Health, is responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices available in the UK work properly and are acceptably safe. The MHRA will only grant a marketing authorisation for any given product once it is satisfied that it is safe, efficacious and of acceptable quality for use in the UK.

However, in the absence of a marketing authorisation issued by the MHRA, Sativex is available in the UK as a non-licenced medicine. I understand that Sativex is being prescribed as a "special", which is an unlicensed medicine supplied to meet the special needs of individual patients.

Under the Medicines Legislation, doctors can prescribe unlicenced edicines but they do so entirely at their own responsibility and are fully liable for the patients welfare.
The decision to prescribe a particular medicine is a matter for the doctor concerned.
This may explain any difficulties experienced in accessing the drug.

With regard to the issue of patients being warned not to approach the press about Sativex, it is not clear who issued the warning and i am unable to comment on the matter. However i should point out that the Medicines Legislation prohibits advertising of unlicenced medicines.

I hope this is helpful.


Yours


Dawn Primarolo



The letter was dated 22 may so is probably the latest as far as Sativex and getting a prescription.

I am a Sativex, user, and it was intimated that I shouldn't give any further information to friends as this could awaken the PCT to the levels of prescriptions. Thus making it perceivably less forthcoming to the persons asking for a new prescription.

In the wake of choose and book appointments this may well not apply.

spread the word about about sativex; buy stock in the pharma company that makes it. buy now its only going up and as the world markets see the rise in gwp stock it will put ganja out there like nothing else. i cant see a downside and it would be so timely.

a bonus to making money supporting sativex would be when the stressed, twisted, dissonant minds of good prohibitonist daily mail readers brains explode when they find out that their greedy doctor has fallen to reefer madness and is insanely buying up gwp stock.

oh, and tax the church and .........................................................................................death to babylon.
gen

would like to have sativex but va no have so must put up with smoking the killer skunk and the odd trip and fall. sorry kids you shouldnt gamble with mommees money.
gen