cannabisnews.com: GW Hits High as Bayer Snaps Up Cannabis Drug 





GW Hits High as Bayer Snaps Up Cannabis Drug 
Posted by CN Staff on May 21, 2003 at 14:54:00 PT
By Ben Hirschler, Pharmaceuticals Correspondent
Source: Reuters 
Shares in GW Pharmaceuticals Plc, a British firm pioneering cannabis-based medicines, hit an all-time high on Wednesday as Germany's Bayer AG acquired rights to its first product.The drugs and chemicals group will pay GW up to 25 million pounds ($41 million) for exclusive rights to market the drug in Britain, under the brand name Sativex. GW, which cultivates some 40,000 marijuana plants a year at a secret location in the English countryside, will also receive a significant share of sales.
The cannabis-based drug Sativex is sprayed into the mouth rather than smoked and is expected to be launched in the UK later this year, initially as a pain relief treatment for multiple sclerosis patients.The British government has already indicated it is ready to alter rules governing the use of cannabis to allow doctors to prescribe GW's medicinal formulation.Sativex is also being studied for treating pain caused by cancer and spinal cord injury, and GW is seeking approval to sell it in other European countries, where first sales are likely in 2004, according to Executive Chairman Geoffrey Guy.Bayer has the option to negotiate marketing rights for other countries in Europe, as well as Canada. The United States, however, is not part of the deal and a launch in the world's largest pharmaceuticals market is at least two or three years away.Guy told Reuters he was comfortable with analyst forecasts of peak annual sales of 250 million pounds in initial markets of Europe and Canada.Shares in GW -- which were floated at 182 pence each two years ago -- hit a new peak of 250 pence on news of the deal before retracing to stand a penny up on the day at 233p by 1015 GMT. Bayer was off 3.7 percent at 16.52 euros in a weak market for pharmaceutical and chemical stocks.Guy said Bayer, a mid-sized player in the global drugs business, was well-placed to optimise sales of its cannabis drug."They have a good market position which suits our types of products. They also, with their German origins, have a very deep understanding of natural medicines," he said.Germany, unlike many countries, still has a significant pharmaceutical market based on plant-derived products. Bayer itself developed aspirin more than a century ago from willow bark. Additional reporting by Sitaraman Shankar in FrankfurtNewshawk: Ethan Russo M.D.Source: Reuters Author: Ben Hirschler, European Pharmaceuticals CorrespondentPublished: May 21, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Reuters News ServiceWebsite: http://www.reuters.comContact: http://about.reuters.com/custhelp/Related Articles & Web Site:GW Pharmaceuticalshttp://www.gwpharm.com/Cannabis Medicine 'On Sale This Year' http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15773.shtmlGW Sets Up Launch of Cannabis Drugshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15203.shtmlHigh Hopes for Cannabis on Prescription http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14701.shtml 
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on May 22, 2003 at 10:03:01 PT
Related Article: Cannabis Now Available in Cans
Betterhumans StaffThursday, May 22, 2003 
 
Pharmaceutical giant Bayer is bringing a cannabis-based spray onto the market in Britain and will likely distribute it soon throughout other countries.Germany-based Bayer signed an agreement with UK-based GW Pharmaceuticals for exclusive distribution of the cannabis-based medication, called Sativex.Sprayed into the mouth, Sativex provides pain relief for people with multiple sclerosis and neuropathy, and may be developed into a pain-reliever for people with cancer. Coming soon to a pharmacy near youThe deal is worth up to £25 million (about US$41 million) for GW Pharmaceuticals, which is developing a number of cannabis-based pharmaceuticals.Sativex consists of pure cannabis plant extract whose main ingredients are tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol. The deal only covers the UK, where the government has loosened rules to let doctors prescribe Sativex. Bayer also has the option of marketing the drug in other European countries as well as Canada, Australia and New Zealand.Drug laws in many countries, such as Canada, have already been relaxed to allow people to smoke marijuana for medical purposes. http://www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2003-05-22-1
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Comment #5 posted by Jose Melendez on May 22, 2003 at 04:24:16 PT
hatchet job
from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/22/business/22BLOO.html?ex=1054180800&en=73b6365c4d82425a&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE2 Paths of Bayer Drug in 80's: Riskier Type Went Overseas
By WALT BOGDANICH and ERIC KOLI division of the pharmaceutical company Bayer sold millions of dollars of blood-clotting medicine for hemophiliacs — medicine that carried a high risk of transmitting AIDS — to Asia and Latin America in the mid-1980's while selling a new, safer product in the West, according to documents obtained by The New York Times. The Bayer unit, Cutter Biological, introduced its safer medicine in late February 1984 as evidence mounted that the earlier version was infecting hemophiliacs with H.I.V. Yet for over a year, the company continued to sell the old medicine overseas, prompting a United States regulator to accuse Cutter of breaking its promise to stop selling the product.By continuing to sell the old version of the life-saving medicine, the records show, Cutter officials were trying to avoid being stuck with large stores of a product that was proving increasingly unmarketable in the United States and Europe. (Snipped)
New York Times: No positive marijuana stories - just know
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Comment #4 posted by til on May 21, 2003 at 20:04:50 PT
Sativex or pot
How's the liver after a few years of sativex? Walters must be hooked on it. The so called B.C bud must be harder to get.
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Comment #3 posted by ekim on May 21, 2003 at 19:18:29 PT
what will the blowback be for Prohibition
we here in Kalamazoo have just been over taken by Pfizer Inc. we did have Upjohn. the town is going in shock as 600 high paid scientists are pink slipped as well as many more underclass jobs. With the Cannabis Prohibition not allowing one company to do what GW has done. With the EU getting Patents on new products for food and meds as well as most of the new renewable fuels for Hydrogen and all of its components we will be suck hind tit. Just who do we have to thank for this --------- who is in power -- who is stoping the studing of these projects-----where is the discussion.
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Comment #2 posted by ekim on May 21, 2003 at 17:57:26 PT
passing along email
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President of the United States, it gets your attention. And when Buffett
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a rare conversation with Ted Koppel.
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Comment #1 posted by charmed quark on May 21, 2003 at 15:39:07 PT
Amazing
Aspirin and Cannabis - I better buy stock in Bayer. I wonder
how many decades it will take to get Sativex in the US?I heard GW Pharm. was considering developing a cannabis mix specifically for migraines! I can hardly wait. If the US wasn't so crazy I'd rather grow my own medicine, but GW has developed a good deployment method.-Pete
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