Pandora's box opened. SKTO/BB are on the leading e
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(note on article below: FDA wakes up, but clinical trials and approval process can take years.)
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 11/29/2013 -- A new FDA approval has created a buzz inside biotechs involved with medical marijuana research. When Nuvilex, Inc. (OTCQB: NVLX) announced the formation of its new medical marijuana subsidiary, Medical Marijuana Sciences, Inc., the company's CEO, Dr. Robert Ryan, said then that its research would focus initially on cannabidiol (CBD), one of the compounds found in Cannabis, as the basis for developing treatments for serious and deadly forms of cancer. Well, this month the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) apparently agreed that CBD is the way to go and they've approved clinical trials using the compound.
This landmark approval involves the use of a cannabis-based drug and its effects on epilepsy, and could very well change the face of the industry. According to the FDA, the treatment, Epidiolex, made by GW Pharmaceuticals based out of the U.K., is 98 percent purified cannabidiol.
While Nuvilex was well aware of the apparent benefits of cannabidiol, it wasn't until CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, released his documentary, "Weed," that the compound seemed to gain real momentum as the key to the drug's success. Nuvilex's plan is use its expertise, current research and its success in the biotechnology sector to make it among the leaders in the medical marijuana industry, and the FDA's approval of these clinical trials could ramp up research industry wide.
In the announcement, the FDA said, there are around 60 known chemicals contained in cannabis called cannabinoids. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the main component responsible for the psychoactive nature of most varieties of cannabis. CBD, however, is the second most abundant cannabinoid in the cannabis and provides medicinal benefits without the "high."
These trials could very well open the floodgates to more FDA approvals using CBD as the basis for developing treatments for a number of different ailments. The benefit to Nuvilex is that their research into those difficult to treat cancers may have just gotten the green light.