Novartis sells off UK rights for Syntometrine to Alliance Pharma

Alliance Pharma has acquired the UK marketing rights the childbirth product, Syntometrine.

For a single cash payment of two million pounds, Alliance Pharma will transfer the manufacturing of the drug to one of its contracted producers.

The Chippenham-based company claims that Syntometrine is one its core brands, as it has been distributing Syntometrine on behalf of Novartis since 1998. The agreement, which includes ten other brands, will continue without Syntometrine, which brought sales of 788,000 pounds up to the end of September 2006.

John Dawson, chief executive of Alliance Pharma, commented: “We have marketed Syntometrine on behalf of Novartis in the UK since 1998 and are now delighted to have acquired the UK rights, not least because of the margin improvement that we should be able to achieve.”

Alliance is also developing Isprelor, another treatment for the induction of child labour – currently undergoing phase III trials.

The company has sales of around 15 million pounds a year and achieved annualised growth of 24.6 per cent for the year ending December 2005.

Alliance claims that although its main product bases are the UK and the Republic of Ireland, it is seeking to expand further internationally.