Look Out Big Pharma: GW’s in Town

By Marisa DeZara

Based in the UK and founded by Drs. Geoffrey Guy and Brian Whittle, GW Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: GWPH) conducted breakthrough research to create their signature multiple sclerosis treatment. Did we mention that this treatment, a medicinal mouth spray called Sativex, is cannabis-based? Sativex utilizes CBD technology that will make patients feel better without having to experience that hazy high.

More recently, GW’s Epidiolex, another cannabis-based medication, surfaced as an experimental treatment for epilepsy. This medication, predominantly focused on pediatric epilepsy, has a clear emphasis on treating Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome. Unlike Sativex, which has been tested, approved and launched in 11 countries around the globe, Epidiolex has not yet undergone a sequence of clinical trials. Administered by the FDA, these trials are on track to begin during the second half of 2014.

Epidiolex’s active ingredient, Cannabidiol or CBD, can be regarded as somewhat of a miracle healing agent. In the case of five-year-old Charlotte Figi, a child who suffered from 300 epileptic seizures a week, had a set of parents who exhausted every option in providing her relief. Their last straw was, indeed, marijuana. To protect Charlotte from the high that marijuana produces, a dispensary in Colorado Springs, CO developed a special strain specifically for Charlotte, appropriately named Charlotte’s Web‘. This strain (high in CBD’s (pot’s non-psychoactive component) and low in THC (pot’s psychoactive component)) significantly lessened the amount of seizures that she had to deal with on a daily basis. If there’s anything to be said about the correlation between CBD and relief for pediatric epilepsy, as seen specifically in the case of Charlotte Figi, the clinical trials for Epidiolex should yield an advantageous result.

In a press release that went public on March 17th, 2014, GW Pharmaceuticals states that a different cannabis extract, “CBDV [cannabinoid cannabidivarin] has shown the ability to treat seizures in pre-clinical models of epilepsy with significantly fewer side effects than currently approved anti-epileptic drugs.” With a Phase 1 study for CBDV complete, “GW expects to commence a Phase 2 study of CBDV in patients with epilepsy later in 2014, using the doses identified as appropriate in this Phase 1 study.” CBDV, having already begun a series of clinical tests, is the first of two marijuana-based epileptic treatments to be studied by GW; Epidiolex is on-deck to be their next product investigated.

What does this mean for investors?

UK news source, Mail Online, states that GW Pharma had recently grown in value because they looked to America for investment appeal. The biotech company raised in market value to above 1 billion dollars during the month of March and, though shares have gone down since then, “a good chunk of its increase can be attributed to hopes for Epidiolex.” With GW’s current share price set at $56.72, a positive trial result for Epidiolex could potentially draw more attention toward GW Pharmaceuticals and, more importantly, increase stock valuation.

Guest Contributor designates a writer who is guest publishing content with MJINews.

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