cannabisnews.com: Canada: GW and Bayer Announce Marketing Agreement 





Canada: GW and Bayer Announce Marketing Agreement 
Posted by CN Staff on November 06, 2003 at 09:31:18 PT
Press Release
Source: Canada NewsWire 
Toronto -- GW Pharmaceuticals plc ("GW") and Bayer HealthCare, Pharmaceuticals Division - Canada ("Bayer") announce a marketing agreement to bring Sativex(R), GW's cannabis-based medicinal extract product, to the Canadian market. Sativex(R), has been developed by GW to provide a cannabis-derived pharmaceutical product for the treatment of the debilitating symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis ("MS") and severe neuropathic pain. The product is a whole plant medicinal cannabis extract containing Tetranabinex(TM) (tetrahydrocannabinol or THC) and Nabidiolex(TM) (cannabidiol or CBD) as its principal components. 
The medicine is administered by means of a spray into the mouth. Bayer HealthCare AG obtained exclusive rights to market Sativex(R), in the UK in May 2003 at which time Bayer also secured an option to negotiate the marketing rights in selected other countries. This new agreement for Canada is the first such extension concluded under these option arrangements. Approximately 50,000 people in Canada are diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Pain occurs in 80% of MS patients and 20 to 50% report experiencing significant pain (O'Connor 2002). A Canadian survey of patients with neuropathic pain found that 73% had inadequate pain control (Boivie 1999). Dr Geoffrey Guy, Executive Chairman of GW, said, "I am delighted to be announcing a further extension of our partnership with Bayer, as envisaged at the time of our original agreement earlier this year. Over the last few years, GW has held positive discussions with officials in Canada regarding the introduction of Sativex(R), and we look forward to working with Bayer to bring Sativex(R), to market in Canada at the earliest opportunity." Philip Blake, President and CEO of Bayer Inc., said, "We are pleased to partner with GW to bring this innovative cannabis-based product to the Canadian market. We believe that Sativex(R) can make a substantial difference in the lives of patients with MS and those who suffer from neuropathic pain." GW plans to submit a New Drug Submission for Sativex(R) to Health Canada in the near future. GW submitted a product licence application for Sativex(R), to the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency ("MHRA") in March 2003.About Bayer HealthCare Bayer HealthCare, a subgroup of Bayer AG, is one of the world's leading innovative companies in the health care and medical products industry. More than 34,000 employees work for Bayer HealthCare worldwide. Bayer HealthCare combines the global activities of the Animal Health, Biological Products, Consumer Care, Diagnostics and Pharmaceuticals divisions. Our work at Bayer HealthCare is to discover and manufacture innovative products for the purpose of improving human and animal health worldwide. Our products enhance well-being and quality of life by diagnosing, preventing and treating disease.This news release contains forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in our public reports filed with the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (including our Form 20-F). The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.For further information: Bayer HealthCare - Canada: Ruth Lewkowicz, Manager Communications, (416) 240-5493; GW Pharmaceuticals plc: Mark Rogerson, Press and PR, + 44 7885 638810; Bayer HealthCare AG: Helmut Schaefers, +49 17 530 58308 Complete Title: GW and Bayer Announce Marketing Agreement to bring Sativex(R), Cannabis-Based Medicine, to Canadian Market Newshawk: puff_tuffSource: Canada NewsWire (Canada)Published: November 06, 2003Copyright: 2003 Canada NewsWire Ltd.Contact: cnw newswire.caWebsite: http://www.newswire.ca/Related Articles & Web Site:GW Pharmaceuticalshttp://www.gwpharm.com/Door Opens for Medical Cannabis http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17714.shtmlCannabis Spray Painkiller in Use in Monthshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17083.shtmlGW Hits High as Bayer Snaps Up Cannabis Drug http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16348.shtml
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on November 06, 2003 at 15:00:45 PT
News Brief from The CBC
Cannabis Studied as Treatment for MS November 6, 2003 CALGARY - Researchers at the University of Calgary say cannabis should be studied as a possible treatment for symptoms of multiple sclerosis. 
This comes in response to a study being published in Thursday's edition of the medical journal, Lancet.The study, conducted in the United Kingdom, showed people who took an oral cannabis derivative were able to sleep better and had relief from pain and spasms.Dr. Luanne Metz is a neurologist and the director of the MS clinic for the Calgary Health Region.Metz, who co-authored a commentary on the study, says the results should spark further research."One of the drawbacks of the study is that it was done using oral cannabis, which is not the most effective way of getting cannabis into the system to help spasticity," Dr. Metz says. "I hope it will help spark further studies of safe, effective ways of delivering cannabis to people."Metz says smoking cannibis puts higher levels of the drug into a person's bloodstream. But she says, as a physcian, it's hard to prescribe something that can be harmful, since smoking puts tar and toxins into the lungs.http://calgary.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ca_cannabis20031106
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on November 06, 2003 at 12:16:46 PT
Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics: A Requiem 
Here are words that Dr. Russo sent for me to share with all of you. I posted it before but you might want to read it if you missed it.http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/journal.htm
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Comment #8 posted by Marc Paquette on November 06, 2003 at 11:56:38 PT:
Guess What?
Hi Friends;Medical marijuana Exemptees in Canada like me are not allowed to cannabis concentrates...only marijuana buds. That's written black on white in our rules to follow.I applied directly to GW Pharmaceuticals in England over 2 years ago as suggested by Health "Hell" Canada and they wasted at least 2 hours of my physician's time for the application at the Special Access Program, because they phone him afterwhile and told him that medical marijuana Exemptees in Canada are not allowed to concentrates such as the GW sublingual spray. My doctor was so mad at "Hell" Canada that he gave me alot insults and told me that he didn't want to waist his time with them anymore. So, next year I will have to find a new doctor and a new specialist for my 12th exemption since March 2000. This will not be an easy task either since doctors and specialists were warned by the Canadian Medical Association and other Canadian medical associations "not to participate" in medical marijuana applications in Canada. We're all hitting a brick wall..the 619 of us or so.Peace,Marc
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Comment #7 posted by Shishaldin on November 06, 2003 at 11:56:23 PT
Gotta agree with DankHank...
Not to disparage the good Dr. Russo, but I too, see this as a potential step back for legalization. Prohibitionists will be able to say, "Now, see, you don't have to smoke that awful evil plant. Now that it's been farm-a-ceuticalized (and PATENTED), it's GOOD." The fact that Bayer has it's hands on it doesn't bode well, either, in my mind.PROHIBITION: It's all about control of the $$$ and the people, folks...Peace and Strength,Shishaldin
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Comment #6 posted by Virgil on November 06, 2003 at 11:48:37 PT
Danky
They will use anything they can. It was clear on the Newshour debate withe Gwen Ifel? that Barthwell was saying that individual cannabinoids were the 21st century way which translates to, "I am a Nazi and anything that can be profitized, will be profitized. Allowing plant use is not profitizing. It is giving money away."The squeeze on the middle class is going to cause people to be looking for solutions and not answers. They have fires in California and they say here is the answer, we will pay the timber companies to log our trees. It is all completely disingenuos as the answer is not even given honestly and it is certainly no solution. We have a government in full rape mode as we see with Haliburton charging $2.65 a gallon on a no bid contract that could be done by Iraqis for under a $1 a gallon. Well, the whole story of Iraq is about rape and plunder covered with lies and dishonesty. The White House even had the penalties taken out of the act that would have given up to 20 years to people that gouged the system. They made a tax of 5% on profits to be repatriated out of Iraq. They are going to have a fire sale on all government enterprises and ruin them with privitization. The big deal now is how the Republicans will paint the Democrats as evil for not passing Medicare reform that would have soaked the treasury again. You have the disingenuos argument that the government must protect you from Candain suppliers of medicine. It is another answer and is not intented as a solution. Congress works for the pill companies and the energy companies. You can include the insurance companies that sure as hell do not want their $400 billion dollar industry wiped out by universal single payer system. It is rigged from the top down and the retired people that sit at their computer are finding out why they are eating beans while paying a million dollars a pound for an active ingredient.Look at the announcement that came from Clinton's foundation saying that the AIDS cocktails would be 38 cents a day from India. How much do you thing Medicaid and Medicare are paying the pill companies in this country? You have whole states like Illinois saying we want Canadian prices and we do not give a damn where the medicine comes from. Canada is fine with us.The squeeze on wages and especially the big increase in employee contributions to healthcare for those lucky enought to keep it after Christmas when a lot of companies are going to drop health coverage altogether is more fuel for the fire that is coming.How Bu$h has over a 7% favorability rating is beyond me. It would not suprise me to see a toy Bu$h doll being sold to hang upside down on rear view mirrors. Anyway, medical care is going to be the biggest issue to many in the next election and the primaries start in January. Why the people in California do not call for an iniative to withdrawal from Cannabis Prohibition somehow escapes me too. That is the solution.
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Comment #5 posted by jose melendez on November 06, 2003 at 11:45:18 PT
deja vu
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1724/a08.html?397"Administration rapidly raised hippocampal levels of anandamide and induced protective mechanisms in wild-type principal hippocampal neurons.  These protective mechanisms could not be triggered in mutant mice.  The endogenous cannabinoid system thus provides on-demand protection against acute excitotoxicity in central nervous system neurons." 
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Comment #4 posted by Dankhank on November 06, 2003 at 11:16:57 PT:
Potential setback
I go on record here as believing prohibitionits will use the availability of these medicines as a reason to continue fighting legalization.The more medicines made the less need for the plant in their minds.
Hemp N Stuff
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Comment #3 posted by goneposthole on November 06, 2003 at 10:58:52 PT
more righteous indignation, again
Probably not the most ethical company to be marketing derivatives of cannabis. A snapshot of what they have been doing as late as 2001:Bayer, which in August 2001 submitted a human study of azinphos methyl, an insecticide derived from World War II nerve gases. Bayer scientists were among those who conducted human experiments in the Nazi concentration camps when the company was a subsidiary of I.G. Farben, the infamous manufacturer of Nazi death camp gas. http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-uk/2002-May/001445.html
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Comment #2 posted by OverwhelmSam on November 06, 2003 at 10:20:23 PT:
Definately A Blow To Prohibitionists
Now that marijuana is being marketed for MS, how will Americans who suffer from this terrible disease react to the policy of prohibition? Interesting. 
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on November 06, 2003 at 09:33:35 PT
This Is Wonderful News
Dr. Russo! I'm so happy for you and your company!
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