Prohibition against marijuana seems to be soon nearing an end, partially motivated by Colorado’s tax windfall since its passage of Amendment 64, reporting over $3.5 million in revenue for February from recreational and medical dispensaries alone. Attorney General Eric Holder stated on Friday he is willing to discuss downgrading marijuana from its current status as a Schedule I drug and Maryland is poised to be the latest state to decriminalize small amounts of possession. As international healthcare giants Bayer and Novartis (NYSE:NVS) see its profit potential rise from its distribution partnerships with GW Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:GWPH), maker of cannabinoid-based nasal spray Sativex, why haven’t major American pharmaceuticalcompanies joined the “green rush?”
While Sativex is still in Phase 3 testing with the FDA and not yet available in the U.S. (it has inked a deal for future domestic distribution through Japanese pharmaceutical company Otsuka), it is currently approved for use in 23 other countries. Two other cannabinoid-based drugs, Marinol and Cesamet, have been prescribed for years to combat nausea brought on by chemotherapy, but neither have caused as much of a market stir as Sativex has. Shares of GW Pharmaceuticals have gone through the roof this year, with a current valuation of $923 million despite sluggish 2013 sales. Additional buzz surrounding GW’s anticipated release of Epidiolex, a cannabidiol-based oil used to treat a type of childhood epilepsy, into the U.S. market later this year helped the company raise $90 million for research and development on the NASDAQ back in January.
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2 comments:
They won't assist in helping with cures. No money in healthy people.
If this goes legal...it will retire chemo sessions and cost big pharma a fortune.
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