Following the success of its prescriber platform in Australia, listed cannabis company Althea (ASX: AGH) has launched a similar set-up in the United Kingdom.
Called Althea Concierge UK the medical education platform, first launched in Australia in September 2018, provides clinical evidence for healthcare professionals looking to prescribe medicinal cannabis.
Althea hopes the platform will streamline the prescription process and facilitate patient referrals from primary care doctors to Althea UK specialist prescribers.
The company says Concierge has boosted medicinal cannabis patient numbers in Australia.
As part of the group's push into the UK, Althea has also announced a partnership with the country's independent scientific committee on drugs, Drug Science.
The Australian group has provided Drug Science with an education grant to allow the non-profit to use its recently launched Medical Education in Cannabinoids (MEDIC) learning portal to educate healthcare professionals about medicinal cannabis.
Meetings will take place later in June for health professionals to learn about MEDIC.
The company is also collaborating with Improving Outcomes in the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (IOTOD) to respond to a "educational gap in the UK" about medicinal cannabis.
Althea facilitated the training of 265 European healthcare professionals at the IOTOD 2019 annual education meeting in Frankfurt in May. Althea was the only medicinal cannabis company at the conference.
Althea UK and IOTOD expect to reach over 1,000 more prescribers in the UK in coming months.
"The launch of Althea Concierge UK and progression of our partnership with two leading UK scientific committees are key developments for our UK expansion," says Althea CEO and managing director Josh Fegan (pictured).
"While Althea Concierge UK streamlines prescribing pathways for doctors, the partnerships with Drug Science and IOTOD are furthering our educational outreach efforts. Althea is a global medicinal cannabis company and our strategy reflects that. We look forward to continued growth and replicating our highly successful Australian-born strategy abroad, working closely with doctors to provide patients the opportunity to choose an Althea life."
READ MORE: Medicinal cannabis patient numbers "starting to spike" for Althea
Shares in Althea are down 0.71 per cent to $0.7 per share at 10.34am AEST.
AXIM makes an impression with CBD toothpaste
In other cannabis news, Impression Healthcare (ASX: IHL) has partnered with US-based AXIM Biotechnologies for the supply of toothpaste and mouthwash products containing cannabidiol for the treatment of gum disease.
AXIM will provide the first batch of products for a randomised clinical trial of the products. If successful, Impression will exclusively supply the products on a commercial basis in Australia and New Zealand.
"We're delighted to have cemented our collaboration with AXIM with our first binding agreement over a cannabinoid product," says Impression Healthcare CEO Joel Latham.
Shares in Impression Healthcare are up 10.53 per cent to $0.02 per share at 10.23am AEST.
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