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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cannabis spray for MS could be just a year away
Nigel Hawkes The Times
Wednesday 06 Nov 2002 CANNABIS-BASED drugs could be on the market next year after trials produced encouraging results, the company responsible said yesterday. GW Pharmaceuticals, based in Salisbury, has tested the drug on around 350 patients with multiple sclerosis, and shown significant reductions in pain, jerky movements and sleep disturbances. The company now plans to submit these results to the Medicines Control Agency early next year, with a view to having a licence for the drugs by the end of 2003. Dr Geoffrey Guy, executive chairman of GW, said the results represented a major milestone. In all three trials, the cannabis-based drug, which is taken in the form of a spray into the mouth, achieved results over and above those derived from existing treatments, which the patients continued to take alongside the new drugs. Five further trials are in progress in which GW is testing the effectiveness of the drugs against pain caused by cancer and spinal cord injury, potentially widening the range of conditions it could be used for. The MS trials are not yet published, but the company said that they had achieved significant improvements in diminishing pain and improving the quality of life. Two drugs have been tested, which contain the active ingredients of cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol, as their principal components. A spokesman for the Multiple Sclerosis Society said: 'These preliminary trial results appear very encouraging and we look forward to seeing the full results reviewed. 'In the meantime we continue to argue that people should not be criminalised for using a drug which can alleviate those often painful symptoms and have asked the police and prosecuting authorities to deal with cases sympathetically.' The Medicinal Cannabis Research Foundation said it was delighted the trials had been successfully completed and urged that the benefits be brought to patients without delay. Lord Rea, lead trustee of the foundation, said: 'This is great news. The patients in the Phase III studies carried out by GW Pharmaceuticals appear to have gained significant medical benefit.' While based on the same chemicals that provide a 'high' when smoked, the new drugs are likely to disappoint anybody expecting a similar result. They have been designed to produce minimal psychoactive effects.
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