Ipsen has posted an 8.2% rise in sales for the fourth quarter to 255.3 million euros, helped by the contribution of its anti-wrinkle treatment Dysport.

Revenue growth was driven by Decapeptyl (triptorelin pamoate) for prostate cancer, though sales only rose 1.3% to 58.5 million euros. Ipsen’s Somatuline (lanreotide) range of drugs for acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumours was up 18.8% to 36.5 million euros.

Most impressive were sales of Dysport (abobotulinumtoxin A) for wrinkles and cervical dystonia jumped 40.9% to 45.1 million euros. The growth is due to demand for the aesthetic use of the treatment which is competing with Allergan’s Botox (botulinum toxin A).

Ipsen chief executive Jean-Luc Belingard said that “despite increasing pressure in the global healthcare environment”, the French group has sustained “above industry growth”. He added that in “making our vision of Ipsen as an international specialty care pharma company come true”, the firm now markets three products globally and has “a very rich pipeline”.

Concerning that pipeline, analysts are most interested in the investigational diabetes drug taspoglutide, a once-weekly glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue being developed with Roche.