ALLIANCE PHARMA PLC (Reuters) - British speciality pharmaceutical company Alliance Pharma Plc (>> Alliance Pharma plc) on Wednesday reported an 8.4 percent rise in first-half revenue, helped by international sales of its scar reduction product and eye supplement.
The company, listed on London's junior stock market, said revenue rose to 50.3 million pounds for the six months ended June 30, from 46.4 million pounds a year ago.
Underlying profit before tax rose 1.7 percent to 11.9 million pounds during the period.
Sales of the company's top-selling scar-diminishing product, Kelo-cote, rose to 6.2 million pounds in the first half from 4.1 million pounds a year ago.
MacuShield, the company's nutritional supplement to treat age-related vision loss, posted a 67 percent rise in first-half sales at 3.4 million pounds.
Alliance Pharma, which bought the healthcare assets of Sinclair Pharma (>> Sinclair Pharma PLC) for 128 million pounds in December 2015, now owns about 90 pharmaceutical and healthcare products.
"With the integration of the Sinclair Pharma products now complete we are strategically positioned for growth and, with leverage levels reducing, we are now able to pursue bolt-on acquisitions," Chairman Andrew Smith said.
Alliance Pharma said it believed there were grounds to re-open discussions with the UK's medicinal product regulator on Diclectin, a drug for nausea during pregnancy, which failed to receive approval earlier this year.
However, analysts have said the regulatory decision meant the company was also looking for a replacement for Diclectin.
The replacement is likely to come via acquisition or by obtaining licenses from other companies rather from within the current portfolio, analysts have said.
(Reporting By Justin George Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)
