Return of XonveaTM Licensing Rights

Alliance Pharma plc (AIM: APH), the international healthcare group, announces that it has reached agreement with Duchesnay Inc. of Canada ("Duchesnay") to return the UK and EU licensing rights to Xonvea, a prescription medicine for the treatment of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy where conservative management has failed.

As previously indicated, the uptake of Xonvea in the UK has been slower than the Group originally anticipated, in part due to the ongoing delay in the issuing of updated clinical guidelines. In addition, the competitive landscape for Xonvea in Europe has shifted, making an EU rollout less attractive for Alliance.

Under the terms of the agreement signed with Duchesnay, the £2.0m in milestone payments made to date by Alliance will be repaid to the Group, £0.25m in 2019 and the balance in 2020. Alliance will continue to make Xonvea available to patients in the UK for up to 12 months to assist Duchesnay with the transition to a new licensee.

Alliance expects to incur non-underlying inventory provisions and associated restructuring costs in connection with the return of the Xonvea rights of approximately £1.9m in the year ending 31 December 2019.

The Group expects to redeploy planned investment in Xonvea in 2020 and beyond into its growth brands and into the development of its international operations. It therefore does not anticipate any overall change to underlying trading expectations as a result of this decision.

Peter Butterfield, Chief Executive Officer of Alliance Pharma, commented:

“Given the current market conditions, we feel that returning the rights to Xonvea to Duchesnay is the right decision for Alliance. It reduces uncertainty and eliminates the need for further investment in the product whilst allowing us to focus our investment on our growing OTC portfolio and the expansion of our international operations.

“We remain proud of our achievements in bringing Xonvea to market in the UK and starting the registration process in Europe; we will ensure that the product continues to remain available to patients and clinicians in the UK for up to 12 months whilst a new licensee is appointed."

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