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To: maceng2 who wrote (540)	1/24/2004 7:24:44 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1417

Firm close to launching cannabis-based medicine ananova.com A pioneering cannabis-based medicine for multiple sclerosis sufferers could be available on prescription by the summer. GW Pharmaceuticals said production and marketing teams Are on stand-by to launch Sativex, subject to it gaining regulatory approval. The firm said its application was close to attaining regulatory approval from the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency. Executive chairman Dr Geoffrey Guy said: "We have every reason to be extremely excited about the year ahead." The Salisbury-based group hopes the assessment process will be finished during the second quarter of 2004 and that the product will be available on prescription as soon as a month afterwards. Previous trials showed that those taking the medicine had significant reductions in nerve-damaging pain and sleep disturbance. Announcing its results for the year ending September 30, GW said its net losses of £8.1 million was in line with expectations. A year earlier its losses were £11.2 million. The reduced loss was due to a £5 million fee from German healthcare giant Bayer, which bought the UK marketing rights of Sativex last May. On top of this fee, GW is set to receive milestone payments of £20 million once the treatment is given regulatory approval and will take a share in revenues from the drug. GW, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2002, is the only company to legally develop and produce cannabis-derived treatments. It also plans to explore the possibility of creating a cannabis-related drug to treat diabetes and Crohn's disease. The company grows about 40,000 cannabis plants a year at a secret site in the English countryside and by the end of its financial year had 127 employees, compared with 110 in 2002. Because of its cannabis content, Sativex will require a change in the law, which ministers have already said they will recommend. Shares in the group were up 2% at 198.5p.