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GW Pharmaceuticals in Sittingbourne has the largest cannabis farm in Kent and is set to develop new medicines

The boss of a drugs company, which has the largest legal cannabis farm in Kent, believes many new medicines could be developed in the county after a major change in the law.

GW Pharmaceuticals, which conducts extensive research into cannabis at its base on Kent Science Park near Sittingbourne, is set to benefit thanks to the Government's decision to make medicinal cannabis available on prescription in the UK from today.

The company, which counts among its investors Capital Group, whose staff include the Prime Minister's husband Philip May, was the first firm in the world to have a medicine derived from cannabis approved.

A GW Pharma cannabis growing site. Picture: Tim Platt
A GW Pharma cannabis growing site. Picture: Tim Platt

The law on medicinal cannabis follows several high profile campaigns by families of children suffering from seizures caused by a rare form of epilepsy.

Eight-year old daughter Teagan Appleby from Aylesham captured the hearts of people in the county after her mother Emma pleaded with ministers to give her permission to give her daughter cannabis oil to halt crippling seizures.

GW Pharma chief operating officer Chris Tovey thinks the change in the law will be a good thing.

He said: "We believe the cannabis plant is a rich source of potential new medicines.

"We believe those new medicines need to be developed properly though. That requires a lot of pre-clinical testing to ensure they're going to be safe and then to go through the subsequent testing on humans."

The company, which was founded in 1998, was given a licence by the Home Office to develop and test a treatment for people with multiple sclerosis.

It was approved in the UK in 2010 and is now licenced in 29 countries around the world, benefitting thousands of patients.

GW Pharmaceuticals is set to benefit thanks to the Government's decision to make medicinal cannabis available on prescription in the UK. Picture: Tim Platt
GW Pharmaceuticals is set to benefit thanks to the Government's decision to make medicinal cannabis available on prescription in the UK. Picture: Tim Platt
Cannabis is used to make medicines at GW Pharma in Sittingbourne. Picture: Tim Platt
Cannabis is used to make medicines at GW Pharma in Sittingbourne. Picture: Tim Platt
Cannabis is used to make medicines at GW Pharma in Sittingbourne. Picture: Tim Platt
Cannabis is used to make medicines at GW Pharma in Sittingbourne. Picture: Tim Platt

All of the technical development of the product and manufacturing happened at their Kent site which is now home to around 250 staff.

Mr Tovey added: "There are only a few medicines, like ours, that are approved by the regulatory agency but there are still a lot of really sick people out there.

"We heard about some of those sick people over the summer but there are many more than that and companies like GW, our job is to make medicines that doctors can use safely to try and help those patients.

"What we're hoping is that these government reforms will encourage more research - the right sort of research."

Only specialist consultants will be able to prescribe cannabis based drugs, not GPs.

GW Pharmaceuticals is now researching treatments for conditions like epilepsy, autism and schizophrenia.

Mr Tovey said: "Specialist doctors are going to be in a challenging postition where they're going to be asked by patients to prescribe something and they're really going to need more guidance and I think they're going to be looking for companies like GW to come up with this evidence, to do that research."

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