GW Pharma scuttles UK listing to trade on U.S. market

GW Pharmaceuticals, a high-flying biotech firm in the United Kingdom that is seeking U.S. regulatory approval for a CBD-based drug, has abandoned its U.K. stock market listing to instead trade exclusively in the United States.

The firm announced it would ditch its Aim market listing this December, according to Britain’s Telegraph newspaper.

A company executive said it no longer needed a dual listing because the majority of its shares are now traded on the Nasdaq and held by U.S. investors.

GW Pharma is developing Epidiolex, a cannabis-based epilepsy drug for children. If approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Epidiolex could be available to the public as soon as 2018.

Since listing on Nasdaq in 2013, GW Pharma has raised nearly $800 million, largely from U.S. investors, according to the Telegraph.

This comes as Britain’s top medical products regulatory authority ruled earlier this month that CBD and products containing the cannabis compound will now be treated as medicine.