Reuters news agency reports that Britain based biotech GW Pharmaceuticals is seeing their stock spike after an experimental cannabis derived drug has successfully treated children with severe epilepsy in a third late stage clinical trial.
Reuters news agency reports that Britain based biotech GW Pharmaceuticals is seeing their stock spike after an experimental cannabis derived drug has successfully treated children with severe epilepsy in a third late stage clinical trial. This is not only spectacular news for investors but for families and children who suffer multiple severe seizures on an hourly and daily basis.
As over half of the US states have legalized medical marijuana, including Nevada, this creates more opportunity for families and their physicians to learn about alternative treatments to the traditional pharmaceuticals that don’t work that well and have severe life limiting side effects. Medical choice is a civil and human right that should be available to anyone who suffers from disabilities or disease. Clinical trials of cannabis based medications serves to make these choices more accessible than ever.
GW, which was founded in 1998 to capitalize on the medical benefits of cannabis, said it now expected to submit a marketing application for Epidiolex to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the first half of 2017.
Its multiple sclerosis treatment Sativex, which is sprayed under the tongue, is already distributed by marketing partners in more than 20 countries, but not in the United States.
If Epidiolex is approved, it could become the first U.S.-approved prescription to be extracted from cannabis. It contains cannabidiol, a component of cannabis that does not make people high, and is administered as a child-friendly syrup.
GW has strong British roots, with a government license to grow cannabis plants for its medicines in southern England. In 2013 it also listed its shares on Nasdaq.
Investors view Epidiolex as critical to GW’s future and hopes have been building following positive feedback from “compassionate access” programs involving hundreds of American children. Its Phase III trials, however, are make-or-break.
The company’s shares rose as much as 16 percent to hit a record high of 811 pence on the London Stock Exchange. They were trading 10 percent higher at 770p by 1255 GMT.
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