Nine months after we first advised buying shares in cannabinoid drug developer GW Pharmaceuticals (GWP), the share price has started to accelerate. It has jumped over 60 per cent this year as a number of final third-phase trials for the group's lead childhood epilepsy product - Epidiolex - have gotten under way. A slew of results from various trials are due before the year-end.
In April, the group kicked off an additional phase-three trial testing Epidiolex's suitability for Dravet syndrome patients, but data from an earlier-stage trial are due first - before the end of the year. The first of two third-phase trials for Lennox-Gastaut syndrome is also in motion, and a second one should start any day now.
That's not all: GW is also keen to expand Epidiolex's usage across as many different forms of paediatric epilepsy as possible. In April, the group announced it would explore the drug's suitability for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) - a rare genetic disease which causes benign tumours to grow on the brain and other vital organs, sparking seizures. A number of patients with TSC have already been treated with Epidiolex as part of GW's wider access programme.
GW PHARMACEUTICALS (GWP) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
ORD PRICE: | 599p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.54bn | |
TOUCH: | 596-600p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 697p | LOW: 300p |
DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
NET ASSET VALUE: | 58p | NET DEBT: | £149m |
Half-year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | 15.0 | -10.6 | -4.1 | nil |
2015 | 14.3 | -13.7 | -4.6 | nil |
% change | -5 | -29 | -12 | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na |