GW Pharma posts positive proof-of-concept data in schizophrenia

Shares of UK-based GW Pharmaceuticals (LSE: GWP) rose more than 10% to 621.50 pence by mid-afternoon after the company announced positive top line results from an exploratory Phase IIa placebo-controlled clinical trial of cannabidiol (CBD) in 88 patients with schizophrenia who had previously failed to respond adequately to first line anti-psychotic medications.

In the trial, patients remained on their anti-psychotic medication and were randomized to receive CBD or placebo as adjunct therapy, the company noted.

Over a series of exploratory endpoints, CBD was consistently superior to placebo, with the most notable differences being in the PANSS positive sub-scale (p=0.018), the Clinical Global Impression of Severity (p=0.04) and Clinical Global Impression of Improvement (p=0.02). The proportion of responders (improvement in PANSS Total score greater than 20%) on CBD was higher than that of participants on placebo, with an Odds Ratio of 2.65. In the area of cognition, CBD was superior to placebo (p=0.07) with marked differences being seen in sub-domains of particular relevance to improving the outlook for people suffering with schizophrenia. With respect to negative symptoms, the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms showed a trend in favor of CBD which reached statistical significance for patients taking CBD together with one of the leading first line anti-psychotic medications. The majority of other endpoints in the study were in favor of CBD and approached statistical significance in many cases.