GW Pharma Stock Rockets As Cannabis Drug Fights Epilepsy
Shares of British drugmaker GW Pharmaceuticals ( GWPH ) more than doubled Monday after the company’s marijuana-based drug succeeded in a late-stage trial against a rare form of epilepsy. GW Pharma said that its drug Epidiolex had reduced convulsive seizures in children with Dravet syndrome, a severe form of childhood epilepsy without a current approved treatment, by 39%, in contrast to to a 13% reduction in the placebo group. Epidiolex is a pharmaceutical form of cannabidiol, one of the active ingredients in the cannabis plant. GW is also testing Epidiolex in Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome and Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, other rare forms of epilepsy. GW Pharma stock was up 118% near 84 in morning trading, a three-month high, reviving a stock that had hit a two-year low last week amid flagging investor confidence. The news also boosted other cannabis-related stocks: Insys Therapeutics ( INSY ) was up 16% near 20, while recent IPO Zynerba Pharmaceuticals ( ZYNE ) soared 68% to a five-month high near 14. Insys is also testing a cannabidiol product in Dravet syndrome, and like GW has received an orphan-drug designation from the FDA, although only one company can win the seven years of market exclusivity under the Orphan Drug Act. Zynerba is developing a form of cannabidiol that can be applied through the skin. Leerink analyst Paul Matteis raised his price target on GW Pharma stock to 130 from 100, saying that Epidolex looks very approvable. “We believe this drug-placebo difference of 26 percentage points is highly clinically significant in the context of (1) the patient population, which had failed at least four or more anti-epileptic drugs and suffered from 13 convulsive seizures per month, and (2) epilepsy in general, where drugs with high teens effect sizes have been approved by FDA,” Matteis wrote in his research note. Matteis added that the group taking Epidiolex did show some side effects to the drug, but the 13% dropout rate due to side effects compared favorably to that of other epilepsy drugs.