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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