GW Pharma reports a drop in losses

UK-based firm GW Pharmaceuticals says it made a net loss in the year ended September 30, 2005, of L7.5 million ($13.3 million), compared with a net loss of L13.7 million in 2004. The company, which is a specialist developer of non-opioid medicines for the treatment of pain, also reported revenue of L3.1 million in the 12-month period.

GW added that its recently-submitted Investigational New Drug application for its lead product Sativex, a cannabis-based mouth spray for the treatment of pain in patients with multiple sclerosis and cancer, has been approved for testing and marked for fast-track consideration by the US Food and Drug administration and is due to enter Phase III trials in the near future (Marketletter January 16, 2006).

The drug, which has already been made available for the treatment of neuropathic pain associated with MS in Canada (Marketletter June 27, 2005), is available to 600 patients in Spain under the government's compassionate access program. GW has also completed a European Phase III study of the drug as a treatment for cancer pain, which demonstrated a statistically-significant reduction in pain in the study subjects. In addition, the UK Home Office has allowed GW to import Sativex into the UK from Canada as an unlicensed medicine, in response to several hundred patient enquiries.