Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp. shares climbed $3.63 to $22.38on Thursday after its first product was recommended forapproval by an FDA advisory committee.

The Medical Imaging Drugs Advisory Committee voted 6-0 infavor of Imagent GI, a contrast agent for use in magneticresonance imaging of the gastrointestinal tract.

Imagent GI perflubron darkens the bowel to differentiate itfrom surrounding tissues. If approved, Imagent GI will be thefirst contrast agent approved to image the GI tract using MRI,said Stuart Gauld, a spokesman for the San Diego company.

Gauld estimated the U.S. market at $50 million. Alliance(NASDAQ:ALLP) has a distribution agreement with PickerInternational, which will receive typical distributor margins, hesaid.

Gauld said the company is comfortable with analyst estimatesthat it will receive $4 million to $6 million in Imagent revenuesfor the first full year of sales. He said analysts estimate second-year revenues at $8 million to $10 million, with revenueseventually rising to $30 million to $35 million. -- KB

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