Oppenheimer cut its stock price target for GW Pharmaceuticals PLC on Friday, after a poll of 25 prescribers of the company's Epidiolex, the only cannabis-based drug to win U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval as a treatment for severe forms of epilepsy. Analysts Esther Rajavelu and Benjamin Fages lowered their 2019 to 2020 revenue forecasts based on new patient acquisition rates and dosing regiments, increased their mid-term revenue forecast -- defined as for 2021 to 2024 -- based on a higher proportion of maintenance patients versus new ones, and lowered their long-term revenue forecasts -- for the 2025 to 2030 period -- based on gradually rising attrition rates and a declining net price. "These changes lower our PT to $233 from $239, and we maintain our outperform rating as we believe Epidiolex US uptake continues to progress well, and we await management comments on EU pricing/commercial strategy," the analysts wrote in a note to clients. The third-quarter forecast assumes 3,400 new patients for the drug, raising the total to 15,400 from 12,000 in the second quarter. Shares were up 0.4% in premarket trade, and have gained 29% in 2019, while the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF has fallen 12% and the S&P 500 has gained 19%. Read More...
Oppenheimer cut its stock price target for GW Pharmaceuticals PLC on Friday, after a poll of 25 prescribers of the company’s Epidiolex, the only cannabis-based drug to win U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval as a treatment for severe forms of epilepsy. Analysts Esther Rajavelu and Benjamin Fages lowered their 2019 to 2020 revenue forecasts based on new patient acquisition rates and dosing regiments, increased their mid-term revenue forecast — defined as for 2021 to 2024 — based on a higher proportion of maintenance patients versus new ones, and lowered their long-term revenue forecasts — for the 2025 to 2030 period — based on gradually rising attrition rates and a declining net price. “These changes lower our PT to $233 from $239, and we maintain our outperform rating as we believe Epidiolex US uptake continues to progress well, and we await management comments on EU pricing/commercial strategy,” the analysts wrote in a note to clients. The third-quarter forecast assumes 3,400 new patients for the drug, raising the total to 15,400 from 12,000 in the second quarter. Shares were up 0.4% in premarket trade, and have gained 29% in 2019, while the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF has fallen 12% and the S&P 500 has gained 19%.
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