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Money seems to be what they need right now to move on with their clinical trial program, so this is good news I think.



GW Pharma signs partner for cannabis drug in U.S.

Feb 14 -- Reuters -- GW Pharmaceuticals has signed up Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceuticals Co. to develop and market pioneering cannabis-based drug Sativex in the United States, the UK company said on Wednesday, boosting its shares.

GW, which has a dispensation from the British government to use cannabis for medical research, said it would receive milestone payments of up to $273 million from privately owned Otsuka, including a signature fee of $18 million.

It will also receive a royalty on sales of "high-teen to 20" percent, Managing Director Justin Gover told Reuters.

Sativex is an under-the-tongue spray, which is already on sale in Canada as a treatment for pain in multiple sclerosis.

It has incurred a number of delays in the UK but is currently being assessed by regulators in four European countries as a treatment to relieve spasticity in multiple sclerosis, with a decision expected later this year.

GW said it would start a Phase II/III clinical trial in the United States this year to assess Sativex as a treatment for cancer pain.

Otsuka, the world's 26th-biggest pharmaceutical company, will pay for this and any other U.S. trial of Sativex.

Gover said in a telephone interview that GW hoped to file the drug with U.S. regulators in 2010 and launch it in 2011.

Investec Securities, GW's broker, says Sativex can achieve peak annual sales in the United States of $390 million.

Otsuka specialises in central nervous system disorders. Its biggest product is schizophrenia drug Abilify, which is made and sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb.

GW said it was also in talks with Otsuka over a research collaboration for its other cannabis-based projects. Gover said he hoped to announce a deal this summer.

GW grows thousands of marijuana plants at a secret location in the English countryside.

Cannabis has a history of medicinal use dating back to ancient Chinese times. Queen Victoria, whose physician described it as "one of the most valuable medicines we possess", is said to have taken cannabis tincture for menstrual pains.

Reuters

Thank for the post, good news indeed.

2 plants in Britain were launched around 8 years ago, but facing the problem with drugs based on cannabis approval worldwide they ran out of cash.

This drug could be used more widely that you can think. It could help with ataxia in MS, which is very difficult to treat.

Kind regards,
Tony

_________________
"All truth passes through three stages.
First it is ridiculed.
Second it is violently opposed.
Third it is accepted as being self-evident."
Schopenhauer