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00:08 08/11/02	:ךיראת
medical cannabis results for MS	:אשונ

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Date: Wed, 06 Nov 2002 12:45:48 -0800
From: "D. Paul Stanford" <tanford@crrh.org>
Subject: UK: Good News from GW!

Emma Young

New Scientist
Tuesday 05 Nov 2002

Cannabis-based drugs could be prescribed in the UK as early as 2003,
following successful final-stage trials in patients with multiple
sclerosis.

Compared with standard treatments alone, the drugs significantly
improved symptoms of MS and reduced pain caused by other types of nerve
damage, GW Pharmaceuticals has announced. The company is the sole UK
holder of a licence to cultivate and supply cannabis for medical
research.

"These results represent a milestone in the pharmaceutical development
of cannabis-based medicines," says Geoffrey Guy, GW's executive
chairman. "Subject to regulatory approval, we are now on track to
deliver our first prescription medicine to the UK market next year."

Existing legislation would have to be altered to permit doctors to
prescribe cannabis-based medicines. But the UK government has said it
would make these legal changes if large-scale trials showed the
medicines offered a "clear benefit".

Other research groups around the world are testing cannabis-based drugs.
But the GW results are from the most advanced large-scale trials.

Psychoactive effects

On Tuesday, GW announced the results of four randomised, double-blind
Phase III trials. Phase III trials are normally the final round before
the creators of a new drug seek regulatory approval.

The GW trials investigated the effectiveness of a "whole plant medicinal
cannabis extract", containing active ingredients tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) as its principal components. The drug was
delivered as a spray into the mouth.

Throughout the trials, patients receiving either the treatment or a
placebo continued to take their regular prescribed medications.

The trials on about 350 patients showed significant reductions in
spasticity and pain and improvements in sleep in people with MS.
Patients with another type of nerve damage also reported a reduction in
pain. No serious psychoactive effects were reported.

Illegal use

The UK's Multiple Sclerosis Society said the results are "very
encouraging". An estimated 10 per cent of the UK's MS sufferers use
cannabis illegally to help combat symptoms. GW has another five cannabis
trials in progress. These are investigating other uses of the drug, for
treating pain in cancer and spinal cord injury, for example. The results
of these trials are due in 2003.

However, the results of previous trials in Europe have suggested that
cannabis-based drugs are no better than existing treatments for cancer
pain and have more serious side effects.

In May 2001, the US Supreme Court ruled that cannabis could not be
legally used as medicine. If cannabis-based drugs are given the
all-clear in the UK, analysts expect that the rest of Europe and Canada
will be next to grant approval, within about six to nine months. But the
US might not follow for at least two years, due to stricter tests
required by its Food and Drug Administration.

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