Britain's GW Pharmaceuticals Plc( Profile) has agreed to a deal for Spain's Almirall to market its pioneering cannabis-based medicine, Sativex, in European countries excluding the UK, sending its shares higher on Monday.
GW Pharma said it would receive a signature fee of £12 million ($21 million), within total potential milestone payments of £46 million, and that it would maintain a significant share of long-term product revenues.
Almirall is Spain's largest pharmaceutical company and one of Europe's biggest private drug companies, with 2005 sales approaching 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion).
GW Pharma grows thousands of marijuana plants at a secret location in the English countryside (Insider knows this as he stumbled upon one of the sites once!), having been granted a dispensation by the government to use the plant for medical research.
Canada became the first country to approve Sativex, an under-the-tongue spray, for sale in April 2005 as a treatment for neuropathic pain in multiple sclerosis patients.
Sativex was initially expected to be approved in Britain by the end of 2003, but has suffered numerous delays. However it can now be imported into the UK from Canada.
German drugmaker Bayer ( Profile, Research) is GW Pharma's marketing partner in Canada and the UK.
Source: Reuters
No comments:
Post a Comment