[A novel analgesics made from Cannabis]

Bayer AG has recently announced that it acquired exclusive rights for the marketing of GW Pharmaceuticals’ new medicine Sativex in Europe and in other regions. Sativex is a sublingual spray on Cannabis extract basis, and is equipped with an electronic tool to facilitate accurate dosing and to prevent misuses. It is standardized for the THC and CBD. The new analgesic is proposed for the treatment of muscle spasticity and pains accompanying multiple sclerosis and as an efficient analgetic for neurogenic pain not responding well to opioids and to other therapies available.

Cannabinoids in the treatment of pain and spasticity in multiple sclerosis

There is a large amount of evidence to support the view that the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta9-THC), and cannabinoids in general, can reduce muscle spasticity and pain under some circumstances. Cannabinoid (CB1) receptors in the CNS appear to mediate both of these effects and endogenous cannabinoids may fulfil these functions to some extent under normal circumstances. H