You'll have to convince your neanderthal legislators to legalize marijuana completely to be able to use this. Medical marijuana is a farce for stroke because states list the diseases it can be used for not the clinical research results. Too bad the nicotine gum got cancelled, we could have stroke survivors blowing bubbles to their recovery. And if we had anything approaching a decent stroke association we could have them patenting stroke recovery products.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cannabis-axim-idUSKBN0UI17H20160104
AXIM
Biotechnologies Inc, a small, Manhattan-based company with ties to the
Netherlands, says it has a trump card in its quest to develop a
cannabis-based chewing gum to ease the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
The
company says it will be able to price its gum cheaper than a major
competitor after securing a "significant" discount on cannabis made
available by the Dutch government, which has a policy of promoting the
drug for medicinal use.
To
be sure, AXIM has a long way to go before its Medchew Rx gum - still in
the pre-clinical stage of development - will be a viable alternative to
an under-the-tongue spray developed by GW Pharmaceuticals Plc.
That
spray, called Sativex, is already approved in 27 countries - though not
the United States, where cannabis remains prohibited under federal law.
There
is no cure for multiple sclerosis, or MS, which affects about 400,000
people in the United States. About 80 percent of patients suffer from
spasticity, a condition often treated with the muscle relaxant baclofen.
Existing
oral therapies offer limited relief from spasticity and pain and come
with side-effects such as muscle weakness. Botox, an injectable
alternative, offers localized treatment and is costly.
Provided
treatment is regulated, cannabis could be therapeutic for MS patients,
said Dr. Paul Wright, chair of neurology at North Shore University
Hospital in Manhasset, New York.
"I do believe that there's a role for it," he said, "but I am fearful of the potential for abuse."
AXIM's
gum and GW's spray are both designed to offer more consistent relief
than artisanal products derived from cannabis that are smoked or eaten
and are legal only in parts of the United States.
A
typical British patient takes four sprays of Sativex daily at a cost of
about 5.56 pounds ($8.24). But state health systems in some countries,
including GW's home market, do not consider the drug sufficiently
cost-effective to justify coverage.
Lekhram Changoer,
AXIM's Dutch chief technology officer, said the company would be able to
pass on the discount from its Dutch-sourced cannabis to customers. He
declined to estimate an exact price.
Dr.
Marco van de Velde, head of the Dutch health ministry's office for
medicinal cannabis, said the government was making the drug available to
AXIM and other companies. He declined to give further details.
For
its part, GW - a pioneer in the development of natural cannabis-derived
medicine - has no immediate plans to source cannabis from the
Netherlands. The company grows its own plants at a secret location in
England.
"Breeding our plant is something that's absolutely essential to our competitive position," said GW spokesman Stephen Schultz.
AXIM, which started
out in the organic waste business before reinventing itself last year,
hopes its mint-flavored gum will be on sale in the United States as
early as 2017.
This will depend on
whether the Food and Drug Administration grants an accelerated
development timeline that would allow it to leapfrog GW, which is
waiting to discuss with the agency if and how a late-stage study for
Sativex will proceed.
AXIM thinks
its case could be bolstered by research already undertaken by GW, which
has established "evidence of safety" for its drugs derived from natural
cannabis.
The FDA said it would not comment on any specific drug.
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