Latest / Bloomberg Intelligence / GW's Gover on Cannabis-Derived Drug for Rare Epilepsy (Audio)

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GW's Gover on Cannabis-Derived Drug for Rare Epilepsy (Audio) · Bloomberg Intelligence

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  Speaker 1: a Bloomberg Business flash. You're listening to Taking the Stock
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  Speaker 1: with Kathleen Hayes and Pim Fox on Bloomberg Radio. The
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  Speaker 1: marijuana industry is on a hyperbolic upswing in the United States,
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  Speaker 1: starting with medical marijuana legalized a few years ago, and
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  Speaker 1: now more states even legalizing recreational marijuana. But do you
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  Speaker 1: know that one of the leaders of the cannabis industry
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  Speaker 1: is a British pharmaceutical company that was founded in which
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  Speaker 1: trades on the nasdack and has a very successful drug
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  Speaker 1: that is used to treat multiple sclerosis in twenty seven
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  Speaker 1: countries outside of the United States. We're joined now by
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  Speaker 1: Justin Gober, he's CEO of GW Pharmaceuticals, joining us from Carlsbad, California,
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  Speaker 1: the US opera ration of this company, which is headquartered
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  Speaker 1: in the u k. Justin welcome. Thank you very much
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  Speaker 1: for having me on your show today. So, I think
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  Speaker 1: alat of people don't realize that cannabis has been used
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  Speaker 1: in research and developing drugs for a long time. How
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  Speaker 1: did GW Pharmaceuticals get into this? So, as you mentioned
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  Speaker 1: in your introduction, we we set up g W Pharmaceuticals
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  Speaker 1: back in the UK in order to separate out, if
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  Speaker 1: you will, the the controversies around cannabis marijuana and their
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  Speaker 1: potential medicinal properties or recreational properties, and look to research
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  Speaker 1: specifically into the science underlining molecules in the cannabis plant
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  Speaker 1: and to identify potential new therapeutic options and development as
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  Speaker 1: bona fide prescription medicines according to the FDA process. So
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  Speaker 1: this was a thesis that we developed back in the
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  Speaker 1: UK in the late nineties. It's something that we're proud
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  Speaker 1: to have conducted exclusively for the last eighteen years. As
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  Speaker 1: you mentioned, we have a drug approved in Europe to
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  Speaker 1: treat multiple sclerosis and now are moving our operations gradually
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  Speaker 1: towards the United States as we focus our research increasingly
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  Speaker 1: on the epilepsy um disease area. Justin would it be
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  Speaker 1: accurate to use an analogy that aspirin was first derived
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  Speaker 1: from the bark of the willow tree, So there's something
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  Speaker 1: in nature that can be harnessed in order to produce
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  Speaker 1: a medical outcome. Well, indeed, for for thousands of years, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: most most medicines were plant plant derived and indeed, even
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  Speaker 1: in the last fifty years, medicines such as aspirin, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: opiates are another example. Are are examples of areas where
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  Speaker 1: plants have formed the source material for molecules which are
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  Speaker 1: then subsequently developed as prescription medications. And in a way,
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  Speaker 1: it's surprising that the cannabis has not been subjected to
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  Speaker 1: this kind of research over the last fifty one years.
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  Speaker 1: So we are gw feel that that we've taken on
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  Speaker 1: a logical and what should be relatively uncontroversial role in
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  Speaker 1: identifying real science here and providing data on safety and
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  Speaker 1: efficacy around specific molecules in the cannabis plant which may
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  Speaker 1: ultimately have important therapeutic therapeutic uses. We'll tell us more
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  Speaker 1: about your specific drugs and what they do, because again
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  Speaker 1: you're already having lots of success in your work for
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  Speaker 1: multiple sclerosis. And then of course there's epilepsy. Yes, So
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  Speaker 1: so the research we've been carrying out over the last
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  Speaker 1: eighteen years has generally focused on diseases of the central
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  Speaker 1: nervous system, and there's no doubt that our most important
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  Speaker 1: research at the present time, particularly in the United States,
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  Speaker 1: relates to the field of childhood epilepsy. There are a
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  Speaker 1: number of very challenging, difficult to treat, sometimes rare conditions
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  Speaker 1: suffered by children with epilepsy for which there's little or
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  Speaker 1: no approved medication. So so we've developed a formulation of
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  Speaker 1: a molecule called cannabi dial or CBD. And what's interesting
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  Speaker 1: about CBD is it's it's a non psychoactive component of
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  Speaker 1: the cannabis plant, so it doesn't make you high. It's
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  Speaker 1: not sought after by recreational users of cannabis. But we're
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  Speaker 1: we've been able to develop and manufacturer of formulation of
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  Speaker 1: this pure compound, manufactured it to pharmaceutical standards, and have
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  Speaker 1: been researching it in the United States now for the
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  Speaker 1: last few years. And indeed, in March, we announced positive
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  Speaker 1: results from a a late stage phase three trial in
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  Speaker 1: a condition called Drava syndrome, which is a rare and
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  Speaker 1: sadly catastrophic form of childhood epilepsy. And just to reiterate
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  Speaker 1: using a one, if you could tell us what happened
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  Speaker 1: in March of this year, because it's certainly sent your
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  Speaker 1: stark flying. It certainly did, and and and I think
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  Speaker 1: that the stock price reflects what what a momentous event
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  Speaker 1: it really was. Both for our company, I think, for
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  Speaker 1: the field of cannabinoid science and hopefully of course for
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  Speaker 1: the for the arena of childhood epilepsy as well. And
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  Speaker 1: the trial result that was reported in March was the
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  Speaker 1: first of a small number of late stage phase three
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  Speaker 1: trials which have which are being conducted in order to
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  Speaker 1: allow us to provide a regulatory submission to the FDA
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  Speaker 1: to seek approval for this medication we call it EPIDIALECTS,
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  Speaker 1: and this trial was the first ever large scale placebo
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  Speaker 1: controlled evidence of our drug having efficacy in this patient population.
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  Speaker 1: We we in fact have been evaluating this this men
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  Speaker 1: cation um in it in what's called a compassionate use
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  Speaker 1: program in the United States for the last two and
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  Speaker 1: a half years. There are several hundred children taking the
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  Speaker 1: drug on prescription right now. But this data in March
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  Speaker 1: was the first formal placebo controlled data to emerge and
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  Speaker 1: as such allows us to plan forward towards the prospect
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  Speaker 1: of making a submission to the FDA and hence the
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  Speaker 1: stock price reaction. Thank you very much for joining us.
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  Speaker 1: Justin gober He is the chief executive of GW Pharmaceuticals.
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