The Althea Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: AGH) share price is on course to start the month on a very positive note.
In early afternoon trade on Thursday the cannabis company's shares are up 5.5% to $1.11.
Why is the Althea share price charging higher?
Investors have been buying Althea's shares this morning following the release of an update on its activities in the United Kingdom.
According to the release, the first patient prescribed Althea's medicinal cannabis in the UK has received their medication after the company successfully exported its first shipment into the country.
The good news is that it looks as though this will be the first of many. Management revealed that further shipments are planned in the coming weeks as the company ramps up its UK operations.
The company achieved this after clearly defining the prescription pathway for its products in the highly regulated UK market, leading to multiple patients being scripted Althea medicinal cannabis.
Althea's CEO, Josh Fegan, explained: "Healthcare Professionals need a high degree of confidence in their ability to navigate regulations when considering whether to prescribe medicinal cannabis and the UK is no different. What makes Althea so special is our ability to work with prescribers to cut through the regulations so that they can prescribe Althea medicinal cannabis with absolute confidence and see the patient results for themselves. We now have the expertise to help commercialise cannabis-based medicines in the UK and that is ground-breaking."
In addition to this, the company announced that it has set up a key additional channel in the UK via a services agreement with Cannvalate to support its UK growth.
Under the agreement, Cannvalate will serve as a non-exclusive provider of Althea's medicinal cannabis products in the UK with the aim of rapidly increasing the company's network of existing prescribers, and ultimately, its patient base in the country.
Elsewhere in the industry today, investors continue to dump Auscann Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: AC8) shares following its quarterly update and the Cann Group Ltd (ASX: CAN) share price is trading flat.
