Novartis announced Friday morning it would spend more than $1 billion to purchase the remaining rights to multiple sclerosis drug Ofatumumab from drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). 

Novartis initially acquired the rights to the drug earlier this year for treating cancer, writes The New York Times. This transaction will help the pharmaceutical company continue development of the compound for treating relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and similar autoimmune diseases. 

Widely proscribed around the world for its recreational uses, cannabis is being used in a number of different therapeutic ways to bring relief for severe medical conditions. Products using cannabinoids, the active components of the cannabis plant, have been licensed for medical use. Sativex, for example, which contains an equal mixture of the cannabinoids tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), is already licenced as a mouth spray for multiple sclerosis and in the US, dronabinol and nabilone are commercially available for treating cancer-related side effects.

By RX MARYJANE

I’ve been fortunate to meet Carter Baird on a several occasions and am happy to say that he is a Cannabis Patients Ally. Already impressed by his intellect, I was happy to hear about his exciting video-blog adventure as The Pot Scientist.

In this piece, he makes a logical and reasoned argument about why the Colorado Board of Health should have decided to include PTSD as a condition for medical marijuana: research! 

As Carter says, “It’s not like anyone’s reputation was on the line because they DO NOT have randomized, double-blind clinical trials for the other listed conditions already approved. They’re not the FDA and they should stop acting like it.”

As options for cancer patients become increasingly complicated, and expensive, the most influential source for U.S. oncology treatment guidelines will for the first time offer a tool to assess the costs versus benefits of available therapies.

As options for cancer patients become increasingly complicated, and expensive, the most influential source for U.S. oncology treatment guidelines will for the first time offer a tool to assess the costs versus benefits of available therapies.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) says its new tool will provide a clearer picture of the relative value of medication options, particularly in cases where a very expensive therapy does little to improve survival.

Marijuana users are often stereotyped as unhealthy, munchie-ridden, fast food devotees, but a new study in the Journal of Obesity could turn the turn the popular assumption on its head.

A study comparing cannabis users to those who abstained from the drug found there was an association between marijuana use and a lower weight range and lower risk of diabetes.

A number of small studies of smoked marijuana found that it can be helpful in treating nausea and vomiting from cancer chemotherapy.

A few studies have found that inhaled (smoked or vaporized) marijuana can be helpful treatment of neuropathic pain (pain caused by damaged nerves).

Smoked marijuana has also helped improve food intake in HIV patients in studies.

Studies have long shown that people who took marijuana extracts in clinical trials tended to need less pain medicine.

More recently, scientists reported that THC and other cannabinoids such as CBD slow growth and/or cause death in certain types of cancer cells growing in laboratory dishes. Some animal studies also suggest certain cannabinoids may slow growth and reduce spread of some forms of cancer.

Sierra Wellness Connection president Morgan Carr tends to his business’ plants on July 30. The Sierra Wellness Connection grows its own medical marijuana.(Photo: Tyler Hersko/RGJ)

Located amid medical offices east of downtown Reno, Sierra Wellness Connection could be mistaken for a suburban pharmacy. But it deals in Purple Kush and Sour Diesel instead of ibuprofen and Sudafed.

That’s the point, said Steve Rausch, vice president of the first medical marijuana dispensary set to open in Reno, at 1605 E. Second St., near Renown Regional Medical Center, on Wednesday.

With a vote on recreational marijuana legalization likely for 2016, legislators are now working on statewide regulations for medical marijuana, which became legal in 1996

SAN FRANCISCO — The likelihood that California voters will be asked to legalize recreational marijuana next year is prompting lawmakers to make a serious run at reining in the state’s vast medical marijuana industry — a job they have deferred for nearly two decades.

A pair of bills pending in the California Legislature would create the first statewide regulations for medical marijuana growers, manufacturers of pot-infused products, and distributors such as storefront dispensaries and delivery services.

Sydney, Aug 24, 2015 AEST (ABN Newswire) - MMJ PhytoTech Limited (ASX:MMJ) is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, PhytoTech Therapeutics, has received official National approval in Israel to commence a Phase I Clinical Study to assess the safety and performance of its proprietary oral capsule formulations.

Highlights

- First Clinical Study ("Study") approval for MMJ PhytoTech Limited ("MMJ" or the "Company") and key milestone in implementation of the Company’s 'Farm to Pharma' strategy

A lot of people are aware of Montel Williams’ advocacy for medical marijuana – and he has a very impactful and legitimate reason for doing so. Montel Williams, the former host of the classic ’90s talk show, The Montel Williams Show, has been a medical marijuana patient since 1999 when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). 

“Medical marijuana has allowed me to live a productive, fruitful life despite having multiple sclerosis. Many thousands of others all over this country — less well-known than me but whose stories are just as real — have experienced the same thing,” stated Williams back in 2007.