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UK: GW raises nearly $90m to develop childhood epilepsy treatment Andrew Ward Financial Times Thursday 09 Jan 2014 A UK company that makes medicines from cannabis has raised nearly $90m on New York’s Nasdaq stock exchange to develop a treatment for childhood epilepsy. GW Pharmaceuticals already sells a marijuana-based drug across Europe as a treatment for multiple sclerosis and believes the plant’s properties have potential for use in a wider range of pharmaceutical products. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5b7d988a-795a-11e3-b381-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2pzDAzcPj The company grows cannabis under licence at a secret laboratory in Britain – the Home Office has asked it not to disclose the location – and has become a leader in so-called cannabinoid prescription medicines. GW joined Nasdaq last May, in addition to its listing on London’s junior Aim market, and since then its UK-listed stock has tripled in value amid rising optimism over the company’s products. France this month became the latest European country to approve Sativex, GW’s multiple sclerosis drug, and the product is undergoing stage three trials as a treatment for cancer pain. The US has also given the go-ahead for stage two trials of Epidiolex, the company’s experimental treatment for childhood epilepsy, one of the most common neurological disorders in young people. Treatments for adult epilepsy are unsuitable in many childhood cases of the condition. Interest in the commercial potential of cannabis has been spurred in recent weeks by the decision of Colorado to allow the first legal recreational marijuana shops in the US. However, Justin Glover, chief executive, said GW was interested purely in the medical potential of compounds extracted from the plant. “We’re trying to exploit the therapeutic potential of cannabis in the same way that opiates have been used to develop drugs such as morphine, without patients using opium itself,” he said. “Patients deserve an opportunity to benefit from the medical qualities of the plant without having to get high and without all of risks and the uncertainties over quality involved in smoking cannabis.” Epidiolex, which is taken by patients in liquid form, has been granted “orphan drug” status by the US Food and Drug Administration, allowing tests to start on children with epilepsy in the US later this year. Sativex, meanwhile, has been approved or recommended for approval in 24 countries. GW raised $87.9m on Thursday through the issue of 2.44m depositary shares on Nasdaq at a price of $36 each. Mr Glover said the proceeds would be used to develop Epidiolex. The company, founded in 1998, reported pre-tax profits of £1.2m in 2012 on revenues of £33.1m. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5b7d988a-795a-11e3-b381-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2pzCYBWo2
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