Hope for MS sufferers as first cannabis-based drug is licensed (UK)

[kpete]

Hope for MS sufferers as first cannabis-based drug is licensed

By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor

Tuesday, 22 June 2010


it is the world's oldest euphoric drug – and yesterday the first medicine made from cannabis was licensed in the UK.

Sativex, a tincture of extracts from the cannabis plant, is sprayed under the tongue up to 12 times a day, as a treatment for the stiffness and spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis
. But it is not going to be popping up on the black market as Britain's latest dance drug. The Home Office has rated it as having zero abuse potential.

Britain is the first country to give the drug full regulatory approval, although it has had a limited licence to treat neuropathic pain in Canada since 2005. It is made from plants grown at a secret location in southern England by GW Pharmaceuticals, a small biotech company whose shares have risen 60 per cent in the last six months in anticipation of yesterday's announcement.

The medicinal benefits of cannabis have been known for at least 2,000 years. Its analgesic properties were described by the British herbalist Nicholas Culpeper in 1653.

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

P.S. Do we have a link to this article?

[dipsydoodle]

2. Will also be available on NHS prescriptions

Cannabis treatment for MS sufferers made available through NHS http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/health-news/2010/06/21/cannabis-treatment-for-ms-sufferers-made-available-through-nhs-86908-22349357/

[midnight]

3. How do American's with neuropathic pain access Sativex?

Sounds like a much more safe and effective treatment vs the harsher drugs that pain clinics are handing out.

[otohara]

4. Here's the Link

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/hope-for-ms-sufferers-as-first-cannabisbased-drug-is-licensed-2006812.html

[Mojorabbit]

5. This is the worst symptoms I have from MS

spasticity and neuropathy. I wish it were available here.

[mr blur]

6. Great news - I've been unable to get a prescription until now,

Unless it was brought in from Canada.

[truedelphi]

7. How much will MS sufferers be charged once it is available in this nation?

Big Pharma industry has been working on this for at least twelve years. (First started seeing citations for various cannibinoids in different science journals about 1998)

One of the biggest reasons that Big Pharma needs to keep marijuana illegal in United States is so that the American consumer can be raked over the coals, price wise, when this sort of med is available here.

[Fly by night]

8. The medical benefits have been known for 4,700+ years, back to the ...

... first written pharmacopoeia published in China (forgot the Emperor's name who is credited with that written record -- Chen Nung maybe).

This is great news, though whoever wrote the article/press release should know better than to claim Sativex is the "first" medicine made from cannabis. Unfortunately, it is the first medicine allowed to be produced from the plant in 70+ years. (Marinol is synthetically-produced THC so it doesn't count, for a number of reasons.)

Congrats to GW Pharmaceuticals. This has been an 8+ year process for them and I honor their persistence. Sativex is already available in Canada and is in trials here in the US.

Onward, from victory to victory.