The Althea Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: AGH) share price is on course to end the week on a high.
In early trade the cannabis company's shares are up almost 10% to 68 cents.
Why is the Althea share price charging higher?
This morning Althea provided an update relating to the uptake of its medicinal cannabis products in Australia.
According to the release, Althea saw 462 new patients using its medicinal cannabis products in September. This equates to a rate of 22 patients per business day, which represents the largest number of new patients prescribed Althea medicinal cannabis products in a single month.
The month on month growth rate in new patients per business day was approximately 22.2%.
Another positive is that there are now 319 Australian Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) that have now prescribed Althea's products, up 7.8% from 296 HCPs in August.
The good news is that the company appears confident that this positive form can continue thanks to changes in regulations in New South Wales. Those changes mean that from September 30, in most cases only a Therapeutic Goods Administration issued approval will be required.
The company sees "the changes as signifying the growing acceptance of medicinal cannabis by government, reflecting that of the medical community."
Althea's CEO, Josh Fegan, appeared to be very pleased with the company's performance in September.
He said: "We are very pleased to have exceeded our estimates with regard to patient uptake in Australia. In June, we achieved our 1,000 patient milestone almost six months ahead of schedule and less than three months later we have reached 2,329 patients. The recent developments in NSW are further signs of the normalisation of cannabis-based medicines and a great win for patient access, in which Althea is clearly leading the way. Our education-focussed approach has been a huge success in Australia and we are replicating it in the UK and other markets."
Should you invest?
Whilst I've been impressed with the strong prescription growth, I would suggest investors wait to see what level of revenue it is generating before considering an investment.
Elsewhere in the industry this week, on Thursday MGC Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: MXC) revealed that its prescription numbers reached over 400 in September.
