And to set the record straight, GW was making CBD-rich extracts before many were. Most cannabis people didn't know (still don't) know about CBD and its true effects. I've heard stoner myth after myth about CBD, but very few people have any first hand experience with true CBD-rich cannabis. When GW started its research and development, they were pretty much alone in what they were doing. Most "medical" dispensaries were only dealing in high THC strains...nobody sold or bothered with anything CBD. It wasn't until 2011 onwards that some US dispensaries started carrying CBD-rich medicine...so GW with Sativex was doing something different before most were.
I was on Sativex in 2010, to help calm down a severe flare-up from my rheum auto-immune disease. I was the first person my doc had prescribed it to, and the first my pharmacy had ever seen, too. It was very effective for me...(more effective than Methotrexate and Prednisone combined...)...I really had to push to get it prescribed, and the doc had to do it off-label (ie: I had to pay full costs). I remember bringing research papers in to my doc to look over...I had to educate him about CBD, as he had never heard about it and what it could do.
Since then, I've sourced and selected CBD-rich strains of cannabis to grow myself, and produce my own medicine, as the cost of Sativex was insane...but it was a helpful medication, where none other were.
I'm not trying to defend a big pharma, as the big pharma route is a money-lined one, and we all know that...but, GW has done something different, by creating a standardized medicine, using whole plant extracts, which could be beneficial to many "non-pot people" as well.