The AusCann Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: AC8) share price certainly was out of form on Thursday.
The medicinal cannabis company's shares were the worst performers on the All Ordinaries with a decline of 13% to 23.5 cents.
Why did the AusCann share price tumble lower?
There appears to have been a couple of catalysts for this sizeable share price decline.
The first was profit taking from traders following some very strong gains this week.
For example, prior to yesterday's decline, AusCann's shares were up almost 50% since the start of the week.
Investors had been fighting to get hold of the company's shares following an update on its proprietary cannabinoid-based hard-shell capsules.
That update revealed that AusCann has completed the manufacturing and testing of the hard-shell capsules and released them for clinical evaluation. The goal of the clinical evaluation is to provide key exposure information to inform dose selection.
This essentially means that it may not be long until AusCann is finally generating revenues. It is targeting hard-shell capsules availability for patients in Australia during the first half of calendar year 2020.
AusCann CEO, Mr Ido Kanyon, explained: "We remain focused on making AusCann's capsules available for prescription to patients in Australia during the first half of 2020. Our goal is to provide high-quality medicine and to obtain detailed, data-driven evaluations regarding the outcomes of AusCann's pharmaceutical treatment. These results will build the clinical evidence supporting the unique benefits of AusCann's capsules necessary to open a large market for the Company."
Increasing competition.
Another potential catalyst for the share price weakness was an update out of rival Cann Group Ltd (ASX: CAN) on Thursday.
Cann Group's update revealed that it is also close to a commercial release of its own products.
According to the release, the first commercial medicinal cannabis product from its Australian-based cultivation operations has been packed by IDT Australia Limited (ASX: IDT) under cGMP conditions. It will now undergo stability testing ahead of release in the first quarter of 2020.
These products join a growing number of medicinal cannabis products that have recently been commercialised in Australia.
