Bank Of America Bullish On GW Pharma, Expects Growth In Epidiolex Sales

Bank of America Merrill Lynch doubled down on its bullish thesis for GW Pharmaceuticals plc GWPH and its flagship Epidiolex drug after attending the American Epilepsy Society's annual meeting.

The Analyst

Analysts Tazeen Ahmad maintained a Buy on GW Pharma with a $190 price objective.

The Thesis

At the AES meeting, Ahmad said physicians showed significant interest in Epidiolex, GW Pharma's CBD-based epilepsy drug. (See his track record here.) 

The company has expanded the network for Epidiolex to 30 specialty pharmacies that allow more local access for doctors, the analyst said. 

GW Pharma presented data from its open label extension studies of Epidiolex in Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet syndromes. The drug shows a one-year retention rate of 80 percent in Lennox-Gastaut and 70 percent in Dravet and sustained seizure reduction out to 72 weeks. The strong data will make doctors more confident about the long-term effects of Epidiolex, which will have a positive impact on prescription numbers, Ahmad said. 

BofA spoke with three epilepsy experts who said they expect a boost in Epidiolex prescriptions in the next six months, the analyst said. 

BofA estimates that Epidiolex will see sales of $74 million in 2019 and $2.2 billion by 2027. 

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Price Action

GW Pharma shares were up 2.53 percent at $129.44 at the time of publication Tuesday.

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