·Only 11% of members of the Club de la Farmacia would not dispense this substance under any circumstances

·47% of this collective would agree to legalisation of cannabis for therapeutic use

Madrid, 16 May 2005. According to the latest survey performed via the Almirall website El Club de la Farmacia, (www.clubdelafarmacia.com) in which over 200 pharmacists took part on-line throughout Spain, three out of every five pharmacists would agree to support the initiative of dispensing cannabis in their pharmacy if the user has a medical prescription.The results also show that only 11% of pharmacists would not dispense this illegal substance under any circumstances. Over 30,000 pharmaceutical professionals subscribe to this portal and the survey also shows that male pharmacists are more in favour of dispensing cannabis than their female colleagues.

The therapeutic use of cannabis is a controversial issue that has become particularly polemical in the last few months as a result of the announcement by the Generalitat (Catalan Autonomous Government) to permit distribution of this substance for therapeutic use in hospitals and in pharmacies.If this law is passed the pharmaceutical collective would be responsible for dispensing this drug to the public.

Legalisation of cannabis

Forty-seven percent of members of the Club de la Farmacia are in favour of legalising cannabis for therapeutic use. 35.29% would agree to legalising it for certain diseases and 11.76% defend the legislative change solely in the case of terminal patients. A mere 6% would not approve such a reform under any circumstance.

In the opinion of the social groups who have demonstrated their approval of the initiative to legalise cannabis for therapeutic use, this measure would mean the avoiding of improper use of the substance as well as offering well-being to patients.However, some sectors of society fear that this project may lead to trivializing its consumption. In this regard, 40% of pharmacists believe that approval of cannabis for therapeutic use would not lead to general regulation and almost two of every three believe this could occur, but only in the long term.28% think that this partial legalisation could bring about a general legalisation of the substance.

El Club de la Farmacia

El Club de la Farmacia was started in March 2003 and its website set up in the same year. It is the first website for pharmacists.The project was initiated by professionals within the sector to give support to pharmacists with a variety of privileged, useful and completely free services offering the pharmacy professional information, tools and any help he/she may need in the day-to-day as well as boosting his/her professional development. The website for the Club de la Farmacia is www.clubdelafarmacia.com.

At the moment the Almirall Club de la Farmacia has 32,185 members from 11,775 pharmacies around Spain.

Almirall, a leading company committed to health in society

Almirall is a consolidated international pharmaceutical company that researches, develops and commercialises own R&D and licensed drugs with the aim of improving the health and quality of life of human beings.

The therapeutic areas on which Almirall focuses its research resources are related to the treatment of asthma, CPOD, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Almirall will be investing 500 million Euros in R&D over the next five years. This is the largest investment in this area by a Spanish pharmaceutical company. Forecasts for total sales in 2005 amount to 946 million Euros.

Almirall, whose headquarters are in Barcelona (Spain), has a staff of over 3,200 people, of whom around 500 form part of the R&D team. It is currently present in more than 80 countries with own products and licensed products from other prestigious companies.The company is strengthening its direct presence in Europe and Latin America via affiliates.