GW Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: GWPH), at work on treatments derived from cannabis, is planning to expand its focus to schizophrenia after charting some positive signs in an exploratory trial.
The company compared cannabidiol, the active ingredient in its lead drug, with placebo in 88 patients with schizophrenia who didn’t respond to first-line therapy. GW Pharma’s treatment demonstrated a statistically significant improvement on three measures of schizophrenia severity, the company said, adding that “the majority of other endpoints in the study were in favor of (cannabidiol) and approached statistical significance in many cases.”
We believe that the signals of efficacy demonstrated in this trial, together with a notably reassuring safety profile, provide GW with the prospect of new and distinct cannabinoid neuropsychiatric product pipeline opportunity
Justin Gover, CEO of GW Pharma
Read Damian Garde’s “GW sees a future in schizophrenia with its cannabis-based pipeline”: http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/gw-sees-future-schizophrenia-its-cannabis-based-pipeline/2015-09-15
