Alliance Pharma plc, a speciality pharmaceutical company, has acquired marketing rights in the UK and Ireland for the woundcare treatment Permitabs, adding a further product to the company's rapidly growing dermatology portfolio.

Permitabs, which is used for the cleansing and deodorising of eczematous lesions and wounds, has annualised sales of £275,000. The product, whose sales have been growing at more than 20 per cent a year, was acquired from Derma UK Ltd for a one-off cash consideration of £800,000, financed through the company's senior debt facility provided by the Bank of Scotland.

Permitabs, which is included in the British National Formulary of recommended products, is a tablet containing potassium permanganate and is made into a solution by nursing staff for the treatment of patients. The product will be marketed by Alliance's specialist dermatology sales force, which has an increasing number of prescription products to sell and cross sell to dermatologists.

John Dawson, Alliance Pharma's chief executive, commented: 'This latest acquisition gives further depth to our dermatology franchise, which in a relatively short period of time has become a significant growth area for the company. We continue to seek and evaluate dermatology products to increase further the range of products marketed by our specialist dermatology sales force.'