GW Pharmaceuticals Releases Encouraging Epidiolex Data, Shares Rise 5%

Shares of GW Pharmaceuticals PLC - ADR (NASDAQ: GWPH) spiked higher by more than 5 percent early Thursday morning after the company reported that data from a physician-led study into Epidiolex "reduced seizure frequency" across multiple drug-resistant epilepsy syndromes and seizure types and was "generally well tolerated."

The results of the study were published in The Lancet Neurology.

"We are pleased that The Lancet Neurology has chosen to report these promising data on a significant number of patients with very challenging forms of epilepsy," said lead author Orrin Devinsky, M.D., of New York University Langone Medical Center's Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. "These data reinforce and support the safety and efficacy we have shared in previous studies. Most importantly the results are providing hope to the children and their families who have been living with debilitating seizures. Further study is needed before results can be confirmed and randomized controlled studies are now underway to help us better understand the effectiveness of the drug. We very much look forward to the results from these studies in 2016."

The stock traded recently at $70.11, up 4.5 percent in the pre-market session. It hit a 52-week high of $133.98 in June.