GW Pharmaceuticals is hoping to develop a treatment for cancer after announcing promising results from an early stage study looking at how its cannabis-based molecules can help patients with the disease.

The trial tested how safe and effective two of GW's cannabis-derived molecules were in 21 patients suffering from glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), an aggressive type of brain tumour.

The results showed that patients treated with GW's drug, in combination with temozolomide, which is the current medication used to treat GBM, had an 83pc one-year survival rate, compared with 53pc for patients in the placebo cohort.

The combination therapy increased median survival to more than 550 days, compared with 369 days for those on the placebo.

Justin Gover, GW's chief executive, said the data from the trial would speed up GW's oncology research in the coming months and lead to further clinical development programmes in other forms of cancer.

"The signals of efficacy demonstrated in this study further reinforce the potential role of cannabinoids in the field of oncology and provide GW with the prospect of a new and distinct cannabinoid product candidate in the treatment of glioma,” he said.

GW is nearing regulatory approval for a potentially game-changing cannabis-based drug to treat children with severe epilepsy. It plans to file the drug, called Epidiolex, with US regulators in the first half of 2017 and with European authorities in the second half of the year.

The UK-headquartered company is widely considered one of the country's most promising biotechs. In December last year it de-listed from the Aim market in favour of trading its shares exclusively on Nasdaq in the United States.