Blackmores medicinal cannabis rejected by NSW government
by Geoff Winestock
Herbal remedy maker Blackmores Ltd has defended its move into the medicinal cannabis market after the NSW government excluded it from a lucrative clinical trial on the grounds that it was producing low-quality "street marijuana."
As the idea of
medicinal cannabis gains broader acceptance here and overseas, the tiff highlights a bigger political and medical split between those who want to limit access to high-priced patented pharmaceutical drugs available by prescription and those who want a less rigorous regime similar to complementary medicines.
NSW Health Research minister Pru Goward this week signed a $3.1 million memorandum of understanding with GW Pharmaceuticals Plc to conduct clinical trials of medicinal cannabis for the treatment of epilepsy in children.
Asked why she had chosen the British firm over local cannabis suppliers, Ms Goward told ABC radio that she had no choice.
"Our doctors were not going to agree to dose children up with street marijuana. There are too many toxins, too many poisons and a whole lot of other ingredients. The ethics of giving a banned drug with known psychotropic properties to very small children is just not acceptable to doctors," Ms Goward said.
That has drawn a response from Blackmores, one of several companies that tendered rival bids for the contract.
Nathan Cheong, managing director of BioCeuticals, a Blackmores subsidiary, said that it had offered "medicinal-grade drugs" for the trial to be run by NSW and the Westmead Children's Hospital.
BLACKMORES DEFENDS PRODUCT
He told
The Australian Financial Review that BioCeuticals offered a natural extract with a standardised dose that removed the psychoactive compound THC but preserved the cannabinoids that help prevent seizures associated with epilepsy.
"The medicinal-grade extract we proposed for the trial has been shown through epidemiological evidence to be efficacious, reducing the number and severity of seizures, with researchers noting that having several cannabinoids in the extract creates an 'entourage effect' which supports mode of action," Mr Cheong said through a spokesman.
NSW has led other states in announcing $9 million of clinical cannabis trials for the treatment of childhood epilepsy and pain relief for the terminally ill and cancer patients.
But the decision to hand the epilepsy contract to GW Pharmaceuticals has added to concerns among supporters of medicinal cannabis that NSW is favouring the high cost patented pharmaceuticals model.
GW's only fully approved drug Sativex, for the treatment of tremors in multiple sclerosis, costs about $1500 a month. Blackmores's product is not patented.
Andreas Gedeon, managing director, of ASX-listed MMJ Phytotech, which has links to medicinal cannabis makers in Canada and Europe, questions why NSW is paying a $1.1 billion company with a huge research budget to run extra trials in Australia for a drug that was already being trialled in the US at the company's expense.
'STREET' V PATENT
He said if the trials were successful GW would have the exclusive rights to the drugs and NSW patients would have to pay high prices.
He said companies like his could supply almost identical cannabis-based compounds delivered as pills in compliance with good manufacturing practice but at a fraction of the cost to GW's products.
"It's a very bad sign that NSW have chosen GW for these trials. GW's model is about creating restricted patents rather than accessible medicine."
Yet the argument of the patented pharmaceutical model is that the highest standards should be applied, especially for children.
A spokesman for the NSW Ministry of Health said GW Pharmaceuticals was chosen for the pediatric clinical trials because it had a significant pre-clinical program of research, as well as having a product well advanced in the research pathway towards registration overseas.
But the spokesman said the NSW government remained open to working with any group willing to pursue product development that meets ethical guidelines.
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