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The Reporter: Fake pot to fight bypass damage
Rena Rossner

Hopes are high for an Israeli-produced artificial version of cannabis as an answer to the increasing incidence of brain damage in coronary-bypass-surgery patients. About 1 million people have bypass surgery each year around the world; about half experience at least temporary memory loss due to the reduced blood flow through the brain during the common operation, and 30 percent have longer-term impairment.

A year-long trial in four Israeli hospitals, due to end in April, is testing Dexanabinol, a drug made from a synthetic, non-hallucinogenic version of marijuana by Rehovot-based Pharmos. "For certain subsets of patients, the risk of cognitive impairment is significant, compromising recovery and adding to rehabilitation costs," says Pharmos�s medical director, Seth Kindler. "There is currently no drug on the market that can prevent cardiac surgery-induced cognitive impairment."

Originally designed to treat traumatic brain injury, Dexanabinol prevents the inflammation of the brain -- particularly in the area responsible for memory and attention span -- due to lack of blood supply after bypass surgery.

The double-blind trial, in which neither the patient nor the doctor knows whether the drug administered is Dexanabinol or a placebo, is taking place at Hadassah in Jerusalem, Ichilov in Tel Aviv, Rabin in Petah Tikvah and Rambam in Haifa.

"The potential market is large and currently void of any product," says Pharmos founder and chair Haim Aviv. "The large, relatively homogenous patient population and elective nature of the surgery make the trial a fairly uncomplicated one."

Pharmos also hopes to expand the use of Dexanabinol, now in the final stages of the U.S. FDA�s approval for traumatic brain injury, to stroke victims.

April 5, 2004

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