The fully listed company, which buys or develops product lines in dermatology, oral health and other fields, has issued the convertible loan notes, carrying an 8 per cent coupon, to one unnamed ‘leading institutional investor’. This institution can convert them into Sinclair shares at 27.5p on 31 December this year, 31 March, 30 June 2010 or the first anniversary of the issue.

Chief executive Dr Michael Flynn says the money raised will strengthen Sinclair’s ability to take advantage of opportunities thrown up in the current tough economic climate. The company, which turned a £910,000 loss into £3.2 million pre-tax profits in the six months to last December, has been streamlining and restructuring in the face of de-stocking by wholesalers and is working with another company, Ora Pharma, on the prospective launch in the US market of Decapinol, a treatment for gum disease and kindred ailments.