Althea riding high after receiving first UK patient prescription

Althea riding high after receiving first UK patient prescription

Shares in Althea are hitting an all-time high following the announcement that it has received its first patient prescription in the United Kingdom for medicinal cannabis.

But the good news doesn't stop there the company has also received a planning permit from the Frankston City Council for the group's Australian cultivation and manufacturing facility.

Shares are at a high of $0.94 per share at 11.08, representing an increase of 11.76 per cent.

Althea's first UK prescription is a boon for the company which has now commenced its UK expansion in earnest.

The group says it expects to receive more patient prescriptions in the coming days and will export Althea products from Australia in order to satisfy demand.

"We are excited to have received our first prescription for Althea medicinal cannabis in the UK," says Althea CEO Josh Fegan.

"We are familiar with the significance of achieving a first prescription from our experience in Australia, where Althea recently surpassed the 1000-patient milestone. The preparation and work which has resulted in our prescription cannot be underestimated. From small things, big things grow."

The UK is Althea's second distribution channel for its current and future medicinal cannabis product, manufactured in Australia.

These future products will likely be manufactured at Althea's fully-funded Victorian-based manufacturing facility which just received planning approval from the Frankston City Council.

"The Althea production team is excited following the granting of the planning permit for the Skye manufacturing and cultivation facility," says Althea director of cultivation Daniel Mansfield.

"We will continue to work toward our goal of meeting a 2020 production target, as we progress to the next goal of obtaining our building permit."

Althea's UK breakthrough is the second this month for the Australian cannabis company, following the receipt of a hemp cultivation licence from the Victorian government.

"Being granted the Hemp Cultivation Licence allows us to obtain hands-on production experience with cannabis plants in a tissue culture laboratory environment, immediately," said Althea's director of cultivation Daniel Mansfield at the time.

"We envisage our own cultivation capabilities being up to 10% more productive utilizing tissue culture techniques, as it will allow us to remove the traditional mother stock and propagation areas from our forthcoming production facility which increases our flowering capacity.

"Being able to familiarise ourselves with the tissue culture processes now puts us in a stronger position for when our Victorian facility is commissioned in 2020."

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