GW Pharmaceuticals Sees 68% Q1 Revenue Growth Following Epidiolex Launch

GW Pharmaceuticals plc GWPH reported its financial results Tuesday for the first quarter of fiscal 2019. The company reported revenue growth of  67.5 percent.

One highlight: the report includes sales of the company's Epidiolex drug, which last year became the first cannabis-based drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Sales began in November. 

What Happened

The company reported revenue of $6.7 million for the quarter, beating analyst expectations of $5.35 million. On the bottom line, GW Pharmaceuticals posted a net loss of 20 cents versus a consensus estimate of 23 cents. 

Sales of Epidiolex amounted to $4.7 million between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31. The company said it registered around 4,500 new patient enrollment forms in the first two-month sales period.

Epidiolex is under review by the European Medicines Agency, with a recommendation from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use expected in the second quarter of 2019. The company already has a commercial footprint in five European markets.

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Why It's Important

As the first and only FDA-approved cannabis-based drug, Epidiolex is expected to be a blockbuster. Bank of America analysts estimate that sales of Epidiolex will amount to $74 million this year, but could reach $2.2 billion by 2027. 

Epidiolex is a CBD drug for the treatment of two rare and severe types of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome.

What's Next

The company also provided some updates on its pipeline. GW is working on launching Sativex in the U.S. and plans to launch a Phase 3 pivotal study in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The British biopharma is also planning an open-label study in Rett syndrome and seizures for its CBDV drug candidate in the first half of 2019. 

For the current quarter, analysts expect GW Pharmaceuticals to record sales of $22 million and a net loss of $0.22 per share.

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