Pharmaceutical companies are starting to take notice of some of the potential health benefits to the components of Cannabis treatments. The initial findings are quite interesting. For example an Arizona-based specialty pharmaceutical company recently announced the FDA had granted an Orphan Drug Designation to the company’s cannabidiol (CBD) treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), one of the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumors found in humans.
Insys has also started an exclusive licensing agreement with the research wing of the San Francisco-based California Pacific Medical Center, regarding patenting rights related to the usage of cannabinoids in the treatment of GBM.
GW Pharmaceuticals, a British company has been licensed by the UK’s Home Office to “work with a range of controlled drugs for medical research purposes. A flagship product, Sativex, is a cannabinoid medicine, that has been approved or recommended for approval in 24 countries as a treatment for severe spasticity because of multiple sclerosis. This past June, the company announced an agreement with New York state to begin clinical trials for the use of cannabidiols to help children suffering from epileptic seizures.And last November the FDA granted Orphan Drug status to GW Pharmaceuticals’ Epidiolex, the company’s CBD-based treatment for children with Dravet Syndrome, a rare and severe form of drug-resistent epilepsy.
