The Costs of a Closed Mind
Posted by: Audi Partem Alteram
on April 21, 2005 @ 10:44 AM EST
An innovative new treatment for MS that has recently gained approval in Canada may signal the increasing economic costs of closed-minded policies. Sativex, a cannabis-derived oral spray, was developed by GW Pharma PLC, a firm founded by Dr. Geoffrey Guy, an entrepreneur with a history success in the pharmaceutical industry. Why would an individual with a proven track record who was setting out to found a company in a cash-intensive industry chose the United Kingdom over the United States, considering the increased access to venture capital that would accrue to being located in the U.S.? The answer, sadly, is that the our government has proven suprisingly resistant to the idea that certain drugs can have beneficial medical uses.
In part due to the beligerent stance of U.S. governmental agencies, the U.K. is now home to an innovative pharmaceutical company that has brought to market a drug for the treatment of what can be a horrendously painful condition. In addition to its recent approval in Canada, Sativex will likely soon be approved in the U.K., where in 1998 the House of Lords debated the merits of, and found potential value in, medical marijuna (see report here). Hopefully this product will reach the U.S., but analyst Judie Simmonds spoke for many in the pharmaceutical industry when she conceded that approval of Sativex will face considerable political challenges in this country.
Instead of writing this off as an fluke, we should all see this as a harbinger of things to come. In a global economy, a government that closes its mind to good ideas stifles innovation, reduces job opportunities, and harms consumers. Medicine should not be politicized, and governments that seek to narrow the scope of scientific inquiry only put their domestic industries at a competitive disadvantage. It takes an open mind to maintain open markets.
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