Cannabis Drug Firm GW Pharma Loss Widens

[DankCloset]

GW Pharmaceuticals which has developed a pain relief drug from cannabis, posted a wider first-half net loss on Tuesday on an expected rise in spending on clinical trials.

The firm also said it had spoken to about five regulators in continental Europe about potentially filing its flagship drug, Sativex, with them rather than in Britain.

Sativex, which is sprayed under the tongue, was initially expected to be approved in Britain by the end of 2003, but has suffered numerous delays with regulators requesting more data to prove its benefits.

Its prospects were further muddied in March, when GW reported mixed results from a clinical trial in multiple sclerosis patients with spasticity.

GW told Reuters earlier this month it was talking to an unspecified number of regulators in continental Europe.

"I think we've seen about five so far and we have further discussions with them which will take us through the summer," Chief Executive Geoffrey Guy said in a telephone interview.

If these talks do not give GW enough confidence of success, the firm will wait for the results of two clinical trials of Sativex in neuropathic pain due later this year, he added.

Canada became the first country to approve Sativex for sale in April 2005 as a treatment for neuropathic pain.

GW grows thousands of marijuana plants at a secret location in the English countryside, having been granted a dispensation by the government to use the plant for medical research.

The firm said it made a net loss of 6.2 million pounds in the six months ended March 31, up from a loss of 5.1 million in the same period last year.

Revenues totalled 730,000 pounds, including 501,000 pounds from sales of Sativex in Canada, as well as severely restricted sales in Spain and the UK.

Research and development spending rose to 6.5 million pounds from 5 million, as GW works towards starting clinical trials for Sativex in the United States towards the end of this year.

Guy said the firm was in talks with a number of potential partners for Sativex in the United States, but did not expect a deal until next year.

At 10:40 a.m., GW shares were down 5.1 percent at 74 pence, reversing some of the gains it has made in the past week.

GW said it had 25.4 million pounds of cash at March 31, which Investec Securities analysts said would take it well into 2008, not accounting for the potential U.S. partnering deal.

Newhawk: DankCloset - 420Times.com
Source: Reuters (UK)
Published: June 20, 2006
Copyright: 2006 Reuters

 

[Gnostic]

Let me give you a small insight and education into what is the total corruption and deception behind GW Pharmaceuticals and the woman behind them, Andrea Barthwell.

First, I would like to point something out which a great many people here have missed: the FDA's emphasis on 'smoked marijuana'. Because, by implication, they have made a distinction as to the kinds of marijuana in existence. IMHO, this is of inestimable importance, as I'll explain:

Some of you may recall that until fairly recently, ALL marijuana in ANY form was verboten for medical use. So what's changed? Now it's only 'smoked marijuana' that's the boogeyman. Implying that other forms are acceptable.

What other forms? Why, the one Big Pharma produces, of course.

As with most things, there was a turning point. That turning point began with the development of Sativex by GW Pharmaceuticals, a lliquid marijuana tincture that has been accepted in Canada and is being tested here in the US, by the FDA. What's noticeable about this matter is that the former DrugCzarina, "Dr'" Andrea Barthwell, who made a lot of money as a *cough* civil servant *cough* railing against marijuana in any form, as soon as she quit her 'Gub'mint' service job, signed on to the Board of Directors of the company that makes Sativex. At that point, the phrasing began to change; it was no longer a blanket condemnation of marijuana, only smoked marijuana' that was proscribed.

It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to see where this is going. A former Fed DrugWarrior, who made her bones pontificating against all cannabis, when she takes an even more lucrative position in a company that makes liquid marijuana, suddenly changes her tune to reflect the interests of her new paymaster...or as the old saying goes, "Whose bread I eat, his song I sing". And anyone who doesn't believe that there's collusion between the FDA, the DEA, and GW Pharma is forgetting the linch-pin of Dear Andrea; it is inconceivable that she is not acting as a go-between by using her contacts in both agencies for her company's advantage.

Yes, this was politcal. But politics is fueled by money...and there's lots of money to be made with cannabinoids. The problem of course is that for GWP to recoup all the costs of research, they will have to be granted a patent. An exclusive one. And that patent will have to be recognized by the Feds. In Canada, GWP has already legally threatened makers of a home-grown tonic used in their compassion clubs as being somehow a patent infringement.

From this article:
https://www.medicalmarihuana.ca/pharmaceuticals.html

Last May, Lucas received a foretaste of possible legal battles to come with GW, Bayer AG, and its subsidiary Bayer Canada, when he described Cannamist at a medical marijuana conference held by a group called Patients Out of Time, at the University of Virginia. Geoffrey Guy happened to be in the audience, and afterward approached Lucas and asked him if he'd had a chance to look at the any of the many patent applications GW has for Sativex. "He said it with a twinkle in his eye," recalls Lucas, "but with firmness in his voice."

There is no question that GW plans to enforce its patents on Sativex, which is a precisely dosed medicine. Warns Guy: "To protect our extensive investment, we have sought to identify and patent certain inventions throughout the growing, extraction and manufacturing process. My comments to Mr. Lucas were made as a friendly and, hopefully, helpful gesture as I did not wish him to invest a great amount of effort into obtaining approval for a product as a prescription medicine only to find that he did not have the freedom to operate in the first place."

Guy's warning was reiterated shortly after I arrived in England to interview him, when Mark Rogerson, GW's grey-templed, elegantly dressed, public-relations man, met me at the Oxford train station. "Once it's approved and Sativex becomes a medicine under the law, there needs to be a minor change in legislation so it can be prescribed," he said, as he steered his Hyundai (his Audi was in the shop) into near-gridlock.

"The Home Office has already said they will do that, and then patients will be taking a legal medicine. But if you are an MS sufferer, it would still be illegal for you to grow cannabis at the bottom of the garden to treat your symptoms. Our medicine will be legal, but anything else will not be."

Straight from the horses mouth, friends. Big Pharma looks to sew up the market tight, using government as a club over the heads of people who want to grow their own and not buy their pricey pharmas.

The laughableness of the idea of patenting something that's been used for thousands of years in many cultures becomes obvious...but these wonks will try anything to see what they can get away with.

So...the Feds create a monopoly by granting GWP exclusive rights to make the only legal liquid marijuana in the country, keeping all other forms of it illegal to protect GWP. The Feds still get to attack patients who prefer to grow their own meds. The DrugWar continues to trundle merrily along, wreaking lives in it's wake as our tax dollars continue to fund its' wretched progress. And people like Andrea Barthwell, who lied about cannabis having zero, nichivo, nein, zilch, goose egg value medicinally. now will lie and say that only her company's marijuana is medically efficacious. How brass-balls blatant can it possibly get?

 

[J842P]

Gnostic, that was very enlightening...

 

[Pinch]

Mr. Gnostic, well put my good sir. Very well put and so logical.

As soon as the FDA approved trials on Sativex I knew they were simply putting another nail in the coffin of the legitimatizing of medical marijuana in the raw plant form.

 

[Gnostic]

Thought I should pass this on as well to those who are interested in further research on this topic;

The Spin Doctor's Spin on Science;

MapInc


Prepared by: Richard Lakewww.drugnews.org =.

 

[Gnostic]

Mr. Gnostic, well put my good sir. Very well put and so logical.

As soon as the FDA approved trials on Sativex I knew they were simply putting another nail in the coffin of the legitimatizing of medical marijuana in the raw plant form.

I can't take the credit, the observations I made were already around and concieved by far far smarter drug war reformers than myself. It's just my wish that it get seen in a wider audience so that it may be exposed for what it is. Thanks.

The obvious collusion between the FDA, Big Pharma and the drug warriors in government has to be revealed for what it is, lest it fall under the radar of the media and be a forgotten issue, and it's hoped that someone, somewhere in the media will grab this and run with it to expose further the corrupt drug war with it's related marijuana prohibition and it's scheming. The public should be made aware of the collusion and corruption, yet so far has not been.

 

[Pinch]

I can't take the credit, the observations I made were already around and concieved by far far smarter drug war reformers than myself. It's just my wish that it get seen in a wider audience so that it may be exposed for what it is. Thanks.

The obvious collusion between the FDA, Big Pharma and the drug warriors in government has to be revealed for what it is, lest it fall under the radar of the media and be a forgotten issue, and it's hoped that someone, somewhere in the media will grab this and run with it to expose further the corrupt drug war with it's related marijuana prohibition and it's scheming. The public should be made aware of the collusion and corruption, yet so far has not been.

You're preaching to the choir my friend. I hear ya.