The Althea Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: AGH) share price has been amongst the best performers on the Australian share market over the last 12 months.
Since its 20 cents per share IPO in September of last year, the cannabis company's shares have gained a massive 300%.
And that's after a sharp pullback in its share price since peaking at $1.44 in July.
Why is the Althea share price up 300% in 12 months?
Investors have been buying Althea's shares over the last 12 months thanks to a number of positive developments including the receipt of key manufacture and export licences.
In addition to this, the company has caught the eyes of investors thanks to its successful UK expansion and its strong patient growth.
In respect to the latter, last month Althea revealed that it had a record-breaking month for patient uptake in July in Australia. Althea welcomed 334 new patients at a rate of 14.5 patients per business day, which represented the largest number of new patients to be prescribed Althea products in a single month.
Pleasingly, although the data has yet to be released for August, early in the month the company was on course to break its record again. This growth has been supported by a strong increase in Australian Healthcare Professionals that are prescribing its products. At the last count this stood at 245.
Also getting investors excited has been its progress in the UK market. In May the company announced the launch of Althea Concierge UK. This is a medical education platform that provides medical education and clinical evidence for healthcare professionals looking to prescribe medicinal cannabis.
Management advised that the platform supports Althea UK's entry into the market by streamlining the prescription process and facilitating patient referrals from primary care doctors to Althea UK specialist prescribers.
This led to the company receiving its first patient prescription for Althea medicinal cannabis in the UK at the end of the July. And this could be the first of many given its agreement with independent scientific committee Drug Science.
Althea's UK-based business has furthered its relationship with Drug Science with the goal of increasing the number of patients that can be prescribed medical cannabis in the UK market.
It hopes to achieve this through Drug Science's Project TWENTY21, which is the UK's first national pilot for medical cannabis. It aims to enrol 20,000 patients before the end of 2021. As a supplier of products to the project, Althea could benefit greatly if it is a success.
Should you invest?
I think Althea is arguably the best cannabis share on the ASX ahead of the likes of Cann Group Ltd (ASX: CAN) and Elixinol Global Ltd (ASX: EXL). However, it is a very risky investment option and it remains unclear just how big the market opportunity ultimately will be.
In light of this, it might be best keeping your powder dry until it is generating meaningful revenues. Until then, I would keep it on your watchlist and track its development.
