(FORTUNE Magazine) – Cancer patients suffering from nausea and vomiting brought on by chemotherapy have for years surreptitiously and illegally smoked marijuana to relieve their discomfort. Now a Somerville, New Jersey, pharmaceutical company is poised to begin selling a pill made of synthetic delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), marijuana's principal active ingredient. After four years of waiting, Unimed received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its product last June; Marinol, which can produce a marijuana-like high, could clear its final regulatory hurdle within a few months. Unimed's fortunes may hang on Marinol. The company lost $364,000 on sales of $1.1 million last year, and the stock has bounced from a high of $23 a share in 1983 to a low of $3 in 1984. It was recently around $13.