Cannabis multiple sclerosis drug to go on sale this year

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After more than a decade in development, GW said the medical watchdog had concluded there were no major safety or efficacy issues with Sativex, its cannabis spray that aims to ease MS patients' muscle stiffness and spasms.

It will be available on prescription in the UK and Spain in the second quarter of the year.

GW's managing director, Justin Gover, said it was a "critical milestone" for the company and MS patients.

"We've always been confident of Sativex's efficacy and are delighted we can now expect imminent approval. It's not a transition many biotechs make."

GW grows Sativex's genetically cloned marijuana plants in secret laboratories around England.

The labs will soon be busy, as analysts at house broker Piper Jaffray predict sales will reach
£107 million in Europe alone, and GW is also targeting approval in the US and Japan. It hopes Sativex will go on sale there by 2013, and is also looking at whether cancer patients could benefit from the medicine.

GW will receive £12.5 million from Germany's Bayer and Spain's Almirall, who are marketing the drug, when it is formally approved.