Has botox met its match?

French pharmaceutical enterprise Ipsen has launched a joint marketing application with Medicis of the US for its botulinic toxin Reloxin in the American market. A response is expected from the FDA within six months. The agent is seen as a potential competitor in the field of aesthetic or cosmetic medicine to Allergan's Botox. Ipsen has also signed an agreement with Galderma under which Galderma will have an exclusive right to distribute Reloxin under the Dysport brand name and with aesthetic-cosmetic and dermatological indications in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Galderma obtained distribution rights at the start of 2007 for the EU, Russia, Eastern Europe and some Middle East states. Ipsen's share price closed up 3.08% at €40.48 on the Paris Bourse on these announcements.

Jerome Berton, an analyst with Aurel, said they estimated there was a place for both products on a US market that was far from saturated. Only 11% of women aged between 35 and 65 and with access to annual income of over $40,000 used Botox. Ipsen itself has said growth in the US city market will be about 20% a year or between $300m to $400m. Negotiations with the US aesthetic medicine group Medicis were started in 2006 and an agreement reached under which Ipsen would receive payments equivalent to about 30% of sales realised. In the case of Galderma the proportion will be about 40%.