Alltracel opens up €1bn Asia Pacific market with major first aid manufacturer deal

DUBLIN-BASED pharmaceutical company Alltracel moved into the €1 billion Asia Pacific market yesterday by signing a deal with a leading first aid manufacturer in the region.

The deal gives Alltracel access to its third major market, following recent agreements to distribute its wound care products in Europe and America.

Yesterday’s agreement will see Alltracel, which is quoted on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), team up with Neoplast, a Thailand-based manufacturer and distributor of bandages, surgical tapes and dressings.

Chief operating officer Donal O’Connor said the agreement was crucial to allow Alltracel access to the three main continents.

He said that Neoplast would recruit potential brand partners for Alltracel as well as using the company’s technology in its own first-aid brand range.

Marketing director Noel Toolan said the company had been looking at the Asian market for over nine months and described the new partnership as “very exciting” and one with significant potential.

The company hopes to target major Asia-Pacific markets including Japan, Australia, China and Indonesia.

Alltracel said Neoplast exports 70% of its output to other Asian countries and it includes some of the world’s leading wound care companies among its clients.

The deal follows last month’s announcement that British pharmacy chain Boots would use Alltracel’s m-doc product, which is an anti-bleeding agent, in its own brand of plasters and bandages.

Boots also features Alltracel’s Seal-on ingredient in blood-stopping sprays and nasal plugs.

Alltracel has put similar arrangements in place in key European countries such as Italy and Germany. It has also signed deals with two major American pharmacy chains, CVS and Rite Aid, to carry its technology in their own-brand wound care products.

The company announced a deal last week with American healthcare giant 3M to distribute m-doc in 28 countries around the world. The 3M deal will generate revenue in excess of €500,000 a year, according to the company.

Alltracel employs approximately 25 people in Sallynoggin in Dublin and carries out research and development facilities in the Czech Republic.

In its trading update last month, the firm said it had grown fourth quarter revenues by 73% to €412,000. It will announce its year end results in March.