Althea to launch low-cost cannabis as medicinal gateway option

If Australians have reservations about the use of medicinal cannabis to cure their ailments, there will soon be a low-cost option to trial cannabis products, with Althea Group (ASX: AGH) to launch a new range of low dosage oils to give first-time users an affordable entry point.

The new ‘flexi’ cannabis oil products, as the name suggests, provides greater flexibility for patient treatments by not over-prescribing. For example a patient with an intermittent illness will be better suited to this option over Althea’s 50ml-100ml products.

Patients will have the option to trial the flexi option over a 2-3 week titration period, giving themselves and their doctor the ability to determine if further treatment will be needed. This allows Althea to transition positive outcome patients from the low cost flexi option, to one of the Company’s more economical larger sized bottles.

Althea sees this as a way to address the cost barrier seen as an issue for Australian patients, noting that a recent Australian Government inquiry received evidence that cost was one of the biggest barriers for patients struggling to access medicinal cannabis.

“At Althea, we understand that price remains a challenge for many potential new patients that want to trial medicinal cannabis for their conditions. We believe the launch of the new Althea ‘flexi’ 20ml cannabis oil range will be a great way to provide more access to patients via trial size products,” said Althea CEO Joshua Fegan.

“This will in turn build confidence in our medicines and brand as we continue to be the first choice for a growing number of Australia’s medicinal cannabis patients.”

Althea has shown strong growth in the last few years. At the end of 2020 the Company had 12,273 patients in Australia, more than triple the number from the end of 2019.

Revenue growth has reflected this rise in patients, with 175% revenue growth announced for the 31 December 2020 half year on its prior corresponding period.

In the same period Althea posted a loss after income tax of $8.2m, which was attributed to growth related costs that can be expected in such an early stage industry.