Topic: How To Invest

Pat: Can I have your recommendation on cannabis-drug maker GW Pharmaceuticals please? Thank you.

Article Excerpt

GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (ADR), $55.37, symbol GWPH on Nasdaq (ADRs outstanding: 21.9 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; www.gwpharm.com), is a U.K.-based firm that is developing pharmaceutical drugs derived from cannabis (marijuana). GW started up in 1998. It began trading on the London Stock Exchange in 2001. The company listed its ADRs on Nasdaq in May 2013 with an offering of 3.5 million ADRs at $8.90 each (one American Depositary Receipt is equal to 12 GW common shares). The company’s main product, Sativex, relieves symptoms in patients with multiple sclerosis. The drug comes as a peppermint-flavoured mouth spray. Sativex is now available in 28 countries—but not in the U.S. Most small drug developers form alliances with larger firms to help commercialize their products. In GW’s case, it has teamed up with Japan’s Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., which is funding Sativex clinical trials in the U.S. While GW sought FDA approval for Sativex as a pain reliever for cancer, the results of its Phase III…