GWP.L Regulatory News (GWP)

GW APPOINTS TOM LYNCH AS NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Porton Down, UK, 27 July 2010: GW Pharmaceuticals plc (AIM: GWP) today announces the appointment of Tom Lynch as a non-executive director with immediate effect.

Tom replaces Hans Schram who is formally retiring as a non-executive director with immediate effect.

The retirement of Hans was initially announced at the time of this year's Annual General Meeting. At that time, Hans stated that, having served as a non-executive of GW for the last 7 years, he would wish to retire from the GW Board once Sativex UK approval had been achieved, in order to focus upon his role as Chief Executive of Nordic Pharma.

Tom will sit on the Remuneration Committee as well as the Audit Committee, of which he will take over from James Noble as Chairman. James has agreed to become Chairman of the Remuneration Committee, of which Hans Schram was the previous Chair.

Dr Geoffrey Guy, Chairman, said, "We are very pleased to welcome Tom as a non-executive director. Tom has been a prominent member of the European biotech sector for many years and is one of a small select number of European executives to have direct experience in managing the transformation of a development stage biotech company into a prominent commercial-stage pharmaceutical business. As GW seeks to build on the recent approval and launch of Sativex, we believe Tom's experience will be invaluable to the GW Board in the years ahead.

"I should also like to take this opportunity to thank Hans Schram, who retires today as a non-executive director. Over the last seven years, Hans' extensive experience of the international pharmaceutical industry has provided valuable advice, guidance and support to the Board and we are all most grateful to him for his important contribution to the company."

Thomas Gerard Lynch, aged 53, most recently served as Chairman (from 2000) and Chief Executive Officer (from December 2007) of Amarin Corporation plc, a NASDAQ listed biotechnology company specializing in cardiovascular disease, until December 2009. He continues to serve as a non-executive director of Amarin. Tom became CEO of Amarin following the failure of its major CNS research programme in 2007. Between 2007 and 2009, Tom executed a turnaround from CNS to cardiovascular research and raised $100 million for the company.

From 1993 to 2004, Tom worked in a variety of capacities in Elan Corporation plc. From 1993 to 2001, he served as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice-President; from 2001 to 2002 as Vice-Chairman; and from 2002 to 2004 as a senior adviser. Tom led Elan's transformation from a drug delivery company to a biotechnology company through a series of corporate and product acquisitions and joint ventures from 1996 to 1999, including the acquisition of Athena Neurosciences Inc. in March 1996 which gave Elan leading discovery research into Alzheimer's disease and auto-immune diseases.

In 1994, Tom founded a company which became Warner Chilcott, plc (having negotiated and financed the acquisition of the Warner Chilcott division from the Warner-Lambert Company in 1996). Tom was a board member of that company from 1994 through 1999 and from then until 2002 as a director of Galen plc, which acquired Warner Chilcott in 1999.

Tom currently serves as a director of the IDA Ireland (an agency of the Irish government responsible for inward investment); senior independent director of ICON plc, (a clinical research company); Profectus BioSciences Inc., (a company conducting research into immunological diseases); and is Chairman of Chronetech AB (a Swedish company conducting research in infectious diseases).

In addition to his other directorships, Tom has a large number of non-corporate interests. He was appointed to the Board of the Royal Opera House in 2001 and serves as a member of its Finance and Audit Committee and is a trustee of the Royal Opera House Foundation. Tom is also chairman of Opera Ireland, the National Opera Company of Ireland. Since 2000, Tom has served as a board member of the Queen's University of Belfast Foundation and from 2004 as its chairman. In September 2007, Tom was elected inaugural chairman of Dublin Academic Medical Centre, one of the first academic medical research centres established in Ireland. In 2006, Tom became a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Human Virology, an institute of the University of Maryland. Between 2006 and 2008 Tom chaired the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health and Tom was a governor of the Royal Ballet School until 2009. Tom continues to be a governor of the Royal Ballet companies.

In 2009, Tom was appointed by the Irish Minister for Health as a member of the Expert Group on Resource Allocation within Health and Personal Social Services in Ireland and serves as a member of its sub-committee dealing with the financing of Ireland's acute hospitals. In 2010, Tom was appointed by the Irish Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism to serve on the Board of the Irish National Opera Company.

From 1980 to 1993, Tom worked in the international accounting firm of KPMG, including three years as a partner in that firm from 1990 to 1993. He is a graduate in Economics from Queen's University, Belfast and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.

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About GW Pharmaceuticals

GW was founded in 1998 and is listed on the AiM, a market of the London Stock Exchange. Operating under licence from the UK Home Office, the company researches and develops cannabinoid pharmaceutical products for patients who suffer from a range of serious ailments, in particular MS and cancer pain. GW has assembled a large in-house scientific team with expertise in cannabinoid science as well as experience in the development of both plant based prescription pharmaceutical products and medicines containing controlled substances. GW occupies a world leading position in cannabinoids and has developed an extensive international network of the most prominent scientists in the field.

For further information, please visit www.gwpharm.com