Irish pharmaceutical research and development company, Alltracel, said yesterday it had signed deals with two American pharmacy chains who will offer its brands to US consumers from early next year.
The company, which is listed on London's alternative investment market (AIM), said it had secured shelf space with drugstore chains, Rite Aid and CVS, which have over 7,500 stores between them. Rite Aid will carry Alltracel's Seal-on treatment to stop bleeding in four of its own-brand products from next February.
CVS will carry the Irish company's M-doc anti-bleeding ingredient in five of its products from next January.
The deals will give the company a foothold in the $5 billion (€4.3 billion) US wound care market.
Mr Scott Emerson, president of Alltracel's US sales and marketing partner, the Emerson Group, last night described both deals as "significant".
The company plans to launch a consumer marketing programme in the US in early 2004. It plans a similar drive in the UK in November. Its Seal-on product will begin selling through the Boots chain this month. Two Italian chains have also begun selling its brands.
Alltracel yesterday said that revenues for the first nine months of 2003 were 50 per cent ahead of last year.
