The Incannex Healthcare Ltd (ASX: IHL) share price has been a winner on the ASX over the last few weeks and posted outsized gains.
Whereas the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has slipped 2.7% into the red over the past month, Incannex shares have soared 42% in that time to now trade at 39 cents each.
Let's dive in to see what's behind Incannex shares lately.
A bit more on Incannex and the industry
Incannex is a biopharmaceutical company that has expertise in medicinal cannabis and psychedelics. There is a wealth of research that now exists to support the use of these compounds as prescription-type medicine.
For instance, Incannex's labels are indicated in conditions such as sleep apnoea, traumatic brain injury (TBI), osteo arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
At the time of writing, Incannex has a market capitalisation of $432 million.
What's been driving the Incannex share price lately?
Incannex has been on the good end of clinical and regulatory tailwinds that have impacted its share price.
Earlier in March, the company revealed its drug candidate IHL–675A, indicated for use in rheumatoid arthritis, was more effective at reducing symptoms associated with rheumatoid arthritis versus other labels on the market.
This is promising news for the company, given that its CBD based treatment avenues appear to be gaining steam in the domain of autoimmune/auto-inflammatory disorders like rheumatoid arthritis.
In fact, in a nice add-on to the study, the IHL–675A compound was also found to be effective in treating other inflammatory based conditions such as bronchitis, asthma and colitis.
Incannex also recently announced its intention to float on the NASDAQ using American Depositary Receipts under the ticker "IXHL".
It announced the filing of a Form F-1 last month with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The F-1 form is what non-US companies file if wanting to list onto a US exchange, such as the NASDAQ. It's the same as an initial public offering (IPO) on the ASX.
Aside from this, Incannex also successfully filed several patent applications in the last few months. It completed applications in Europe, Japan and Australia for its IHL–42X development program.
Investors bought Incannex shares on the patent news as well as the company's FY21 results where it grew revenue 214% year on year.
There has been no other market-sensitive information for the company lately so it appears investors are buying Incannex shares on the back of these catalysts.
Incannex share price snapshot
The Incannex share price has posted outsized returns since January and has climbed 152% this year to date. This extends the gain over the past 12 months to a mammoth 561%.
Both of these results have far outpaced the broad index's return of around 25% over the past year.
