Big year for GW Pharma

Epidiolex already has 'orphan drug designation' from the FDA. This means there's a lack of effective treatments on the market, specifically for patients with Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Both are genetically inherited and drug-resistant forms of childhood epilepsy. A second-phase trial treating Dravet syndrome patients kicked off in October, and two third-phase trials for Lennox-Gastaut should start in the first quarter of 2015.

This isn't the only epilepsy product GW is developing; GWP42006 just completed its first clinical trial. And GW is also trialling several cannabis-based compounds for other disorders. These include schizophrenia, ulcerative colitis and glioma - a type of tumour that starts in the spine or brain. Mr Gover admitted the group will have to dig deep into its £165m cash pile this year to fund the ongoing - and ambitious - clinical programme.

Meanwhile, sales of GW's existing Sativex product are ticking along. The drug is approved in Europe for treating spasms in multiple sclerosis patients. But GW is more interested in its potential for treating pain in cancer patients. Data from a third-phase trial should be available in early 2015. Given the lack of available treatments, the FDA has already granted the potential cancer-pain drug 'fast track status'. This means that if the trial data are positive GW can expect the FDA to approve the product quickly, so that it can be brought to market as soon as possible.

Prior to these full-year results, analysts expected losses of £18.8m for the current financial year and a loss per share of 7.5p.