Israel's Pharmos brain injury drug tests start
TEL AVIV, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Israeli pharmaceutical company Pharmos Corp (NasdaqSC:PARS - news) said on Thursday a drug for the treatment of severe brain injury that mimics marijuana's active ingredient has recently started a two-year trial in six European countries. Tests on Dexanabinol, which copies the therapeutic element of marijuana but does not include its hallucinogenic effects, will also start in the United States next year, the company said.
The other countries testing the drug are Britain, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy with a total of around 1,000 patients.
``Until now there has been no treatment available for patients suffering from a severe brain injury of the kind often sustained during a traffic accident,'' Pharmos chairman Haim Aviv told Reuters.
``In a previous study, the drug was credited with saving the lives of patients who had suffered injuries so serious that in some cases they were in a coma for more than a week,'' Aviv added.
Aviv said Pharmos eventually hopes to apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval for the drug which would make Dexanabinol the first traumatic brain injury product in a market with an estimated value of $1 billion. |
