US orphan status for GW Pharma's Epidiolex in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome

UK-based GW Pharmaceuticals (AIM: GWP) says that the Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug designation for Epidiolex, GW’s product candidate that contains plant-derived cannabidiol (CBD) as its active ingredient.

The firm’s shares rose 6.9% to 327.75 pence on the news. The company that recently raised $90 million in a Nasdaq share offering to fund development of the drug.

The orphan status is for the use of Epidiolex in treating children with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), a rare and severe form of childhood-onset epilepsy. Epidiolex is an oral liquid formulation of a highly purified extract of CBD, a non-psychoactive molecule from the cannabis plant.