EXPERIMENTAL TRIAL DEATH INQUEST

An inquest into the death of a woman taking part in trials of an
experimental cannabis-based drug is due to open.

The case could have far-ranging implications for the use of drugs
derived from the cannabis plant - which the Government has just
authorised for the first time in nearly 40 years.

Rene Anderson was given the drug Sativex to ease symptoms of diabetic
neuropathy, a generalised nerve pain in her hands and feet, her
family's solicitor said.

Lawyer Richard Starkie alleged that the 70-year-old developed
psychosis shortly after taking the drug.

Sativex's manufacturers insist that the drug has been "well-tolerated"
by patients in extensive trials, and expressed "surprise and
disappointment" that Mr Starkie had pre-empted the coroner's findings.

Coroner Christopher Dorries will be told she was admitted to the Royal
Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, where she died 10 weeks later, on
March 3 last year, after developing pneumonia and kidney failure.

Last month it was announced that Sativex, a mouth spray for the relief
of spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients, was to be made available
in Britain under a special Home Office licence.

Ministers granted manufacturers GW Pharmaceuticals permission to
import the product into the UK from Canada.

The drug has not yet been granted a marketing authorisation by the
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Doctors
can currently prescribe it only on a named-patient basis.

The inquest at the Medico-Legal Centre in Sheffield is set to last six
days.