GW Pharma beats projections with $108M in Q4 sales thanks to CBD drug

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A popular cannabis-derived epilepsy treatment is increasing sales for a London company making pharmaceutical treatments from marijuana.

London-based GW Pharmaceuticals told investors Monday that it rang up $108 million in sales last quarter and $309 million for calendar 2019.

The company’s fourth-quarter sales beat consensus analyst expectations of $102.4 million.

GW attributed the sales figures to physicians being amenable to prescribing the company’s cannabis-derived epilepsy drug, Epidiolex.

The announcement about increased sales comes three months after the European Commission granted marketing authorization to Epidyolex, the trade name in Europe for Epidiolex and two months after British authorities said two cannabis-derived drugs from GW Pharmaceuticals are eligible for coverage through the United Kingdom’s National Health Service.

GW Pharmaceuticals said that the vast majority of fourth-quarter sales, $104 million, came from Epidiolex. But the company did not clarify how much of those sales were made in Europe.

The sales figures were released in advance of the company’s quarterly earnings report because executives are meeting with potential investors this week.

Epidiolex, the only plant-derived cannabis drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, contains CBD extracted from marijuana plants grown in the United Kingdom.

The company owns another cannabis-derived drug, Sativex, which treats spasms caused by multiple sclerosis.

Sativex is approved for use in several European countries but not in the United States.

GW’s shares are traded on the Nasdaq as GWPH.

An earnings table that includes some hemp companies is available here.