Posted on 05/17/2006 2:38:57 PM PDT by LouAvul
Seventeen years after it was withdrawn from U.S. markets, a synthetic version of the active ingredient in marijuana is going back on sale as a prescription treatment for the vomiting and nausea that often accompany chemotherapy, the drug's manufacturer said Tuesday.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International hopes to begin selling Cesamet in the next two to three weeks, company president Wes Wheeler said.
The Costa Mesa, California, company received Food and Drug Administration approval Monday to resume sales of the drug, which it bought from Eli Lilly and Co. in 2004. Valeant currently sells the drug, also called nabilone, in Canada.
Lilly originally received FDA approval for nabilone in 1985 but withdrew it from the market in 1989 for commercial reasons, Wheeler said. Valeant, since purchasing the drug, has revised its label and updated its manufacturing process, he added.
The drug will compete with Marinol, made by Belgium-based Solvay SA. Marinol, another synthetic version of tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana that's more commonly known as THC. It also received FDA approval in 1985.
Synthetic THC acts on the brain like the THC in smoked marijuana but eliminates having to inhale the otherwise harmful smoke contained in the illegal drug, Valeant said.
Cesamet is a Schedule II drug, meaning it has a high potential for abuse. The 1-milligram tablets are meant to be taken twice daily before cancer patients undergo chemotherapy and up to 48 hours following treatment. Side effects include euphoria, drowsiness, vertigo and dry mouth.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
If he said that he would be.
But he was 100% wrong when he said a) marijuana is harmless and b) "plants (in general) work as well as the extract".
Since the real thing can be grown for FREE, (it is a weed)it has to be more expensive.
Ironically, because it is synthetic, it probably causes cancer.
So you would let a 10-year-old smoke it? It being safer than aspirin and all.
>>They were told that marijuana was a "Mexican narcotic".
Well grandma was from Mexico, so she knew. ;-)
The FDA made fools of themselves on 420 and this approval simply solidifies it.
I wonder if she has made the connection since then?
LOL!
That they released the news on 4/20 seems to confirm their knowlege of 4/20. They are in a sense making fun of themselves and the cultural phenomenon (if you can call it that).
I don't think my aunt ever figured it out. She's hip to be square if you know what I mean. Her daughter, I think, enjoys a little too much recreation and my aunt is pretty liberal, but I don't think she ever took a drug that wasn't prescribed to her. In fact, I don't recall ever seeing her drink alcohol.
Bookmarked.
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