Justin Gover, boss of GW Pharmaceuticals, explains how a drug called Sativex can ease the pain of multiple sclerosis sufferers – if the NHS can afford to buy it
Justin Gover: 'It’s not just street cannabis put into a bottle… we had to meet very strict standards.' Photograph: Richard Saker for the Observer
Britain's only legal dope dealer looks quite ordinary. Bespectacled and wearing a dark grey suit, GW Pharmaceuticals' boss Justin Gover bears a closer resemblance to a City banker than someone who grows 20 tonnes of cannabis every year.
It is used to produce a multiple sclerosis (MS) drug, the world's first cannabis-based medicine, which is on the market in the UK, Spain, Canada and New Zealand. Called Sativex, it was the subject of a £20.7m international distribution deal last week with Swiss multinational Novartis – a tie-up with the potential to transform GW Pharmaceuticals' scale and sending its shares surging 15%.
Gover insists that Sativex – "medical marijuana" – does not get users high: "It's not just street cannabis put into a bottle." It is made from two cannabinoid substances found in the plant, THC and CBD. THC produces a high, but CBD counteracts it, and because Sativex is an oral spray the drug is absorbed more slowly than if it was smoked.
He is keen to dispel another myth: "We don't just plant seeds of cannabis. To get regulatory approval, we had to meet very strict standards. We had to know every vial of Sativex is identical."
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1 comments:
So does this guy grow 20 tonnes or one metric tonne? One imperial ton is not such a big time business here in BC
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