MARIJUANA PRODUCT MAY AID IN TRAUMAS

A drug modeled after a chemical found in marijuana could offer hope to
hundreds of thousands of victims of severe head trauma, reducing the death
rate and letting more people resume a normal life, according to a study
being released today at an international conference in Seattle.

The findings are drawing substantial interest, in part because head
injuries are the leading cause of death among young people in the United
States, and there are few if any treatments. And if these early results are
substantiated, the new drug, called dexanabinol, would be the most
medically useful treatment derived from the cannabis plant.

``It's hugely exciting,'' said Dr. Brian Andrews, who chairs the
neurotrauma program of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons,
which is meeting in Seattle and will hear today a presentation on the new
drug. Dexanabinol, he added, appears to be just the sort of treatment
``that we have been looking for for years and years.''

Dr. William Beaver, professor emeritus of pharmacology at Georgetown
University School of Medicine, is even more upbeat: ``This kind of
treatment, if it works, would have tremendous impact on the treatment of
neural injury and it could, of course, also be of value in something like
strokes.''

The new drug also would be, ``beyond any doubt,'' the most medically
significant use ever made of marijuana, said Beaver, who chaired a panel
assembled last year by the National Institutes of Health to review possible
medical uses of marijuana.

Scientists have been searching for 40 years for medicinal uses of the more
than 400 chemicals in the marijuana plant, which is used to treat nausea
and severe weight loss.

Dexanabinol is one in a series of compounds made in the laboratory and
modeled after chemicals found in marijuana. Dexanabinol's founder,
Professor Raphael Mechoulam of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, sought to
capture the neuroactive properties of the marijuana chemical, but not the
psychoactive ones that induce a ``high.''

Mechoulam licensed dexanabinol to Pharmos Corp., an Israeli-based
pharmaceutical firm, which has run two stages of clinic trials. The first
showed the drug was safe. The second, results of which are being released
today, showed it could be remarkably effective.

The mortality rate among the 30 head trauma patients who took the drug was
10 percent, compared to 13.5 percent with 37 patients getting a placebo.
The incidence of low blood pressure, which can worsen a patient's
condition, also was significantly reduced in the treated group (13 percent)
versus placebos (38 percent). And, even more encouraging, the drug
accelerated recovery and let 50 percent more patients resume a normal life
six months after their injury.

How does dexanabinol work? The original trauma not only kills brain cells
that were directly hit, but it also generates the release of chemicals that
can kill or dangerously inflame surrounding cells. Dexanabinol, which is
given within six hours of the injury, protects the brain in three different
ways, explains Anat Biegon, Pharmos' vice president for research and
development. The drug mops up some of the dangerous chemicals, forms a
protective barrier around at-risk brain cells, and limits intracranial
inflammation.

Pharmos, which has just 45 employees, is looking for a bigger partner to
help it launch a last phase of clinical trials involving as many as 900
patients worldwide. Those tests, which could begin next year, would take
about two years, predicted Pharmos chairman Haim Aviv.

``There are about 370,000 eligible patients with head trauma in the US,
worldwide there are 700,000 to 800,000, and currently there is not a single
drug there for them,'' Aviv added. ``We estimate there are 10,000 lives
that could be saved by this drug
and it could mean 37,000 more patients
who could go back to a normal life.''

Dr. Christopher Ogilvy, director of cerebrovascular surgery at
Massachusetts General Hospital, cautioned that ``a lot of chemical
compounds used to treat head injury initially looked encouraging, but with
rigorous testing they proved to be only marginally beneficial.''

Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson