ASX Health Stocks: Little Green Pharma's cannabis to set sail from Denmark to Italy after tender win

At the time of writing, the ASX 200 Health Index (XHJ) is down by 2.3%, while the benchmark ASX 200 is falling by 0.7%.

Cannabis stock Little Green Pharma (ASX:LGP) has been awarded an Italian government tender to deliver a shipment of EU GMP medicinal cannabis flower from its Danish facility into Italy.

While the the shipment value of around €200k is not material, the award means that LGP has joined a small group of international cannabis producers qualified to supply cannabis flower medicines into Italy.

With a population of 60 million people, Italy’s total addressable market for medicinal cannabis is estimated around $10 billion.

The country also has some of the highest GMP product quality standards globally, with LGP being one of only two suppliers bidding for the tender – with only Aurora having been successful in the past.

LGP has two global production sites for the manufacture of its GMP-grade medicinal cannabis products.

One is the 21,500m2 cultivation and 4,000m2 EU GMP manufacturing facility in Denmark capable of producing over 20 tonnes of medicinal cannabis biomass per annum.

The Italian shipment will come from this facility.

The other one is a GMP facility located in Western Australia capable of producing around 3 tonnes of medicinal cannabis biomass per annum.

The company is backed by Gina Rhinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, which holds 10% of the company.

Little Green Pharma share price today:

More first half results for ASX health stocks

Genetic Signatures (ASX:GSS)

Revenue of $21.91m, up 16% on pcp.
Profit of $4.7m, up 5% on pcp.

Testing for SARS-CoV-2 accounted for the largest proportion of sales for the half, due to the new Omicron variant taking hold around the world.

This testing continued into January, but GSS concedes volumes are easing as the current wave passes.

Other respiratory tests were also considerably lower, though anticipated to increase in Australia as the winter months approach.

The company is well cashed up, with around $37.5m in cash balance as of 31 Dec 2021 and no debt.

BCAL Diagnostics (ASX:BDX)

Revenue from continuing operations of $409.3k, up 545% on pcp.
Net loss of -$1.31m, higher by 538% on pcp.

The company has no trading revenue at present, and the loss reflects the research and development activities done for the period.

Over the past decade BCAL has developed a non-invasive blood test for the detection of breast cancer, with results to date demonstrating 91% specificity and 87% accuracy.

The breast cancer specialist says good progress has been made during the half on accelerating market entry into the US, with the company seeking to execute an agreement for US sample collection within Q1 of this year.