Allergan won its injunction against a putative Botox competitor that had already grabbed 8% of the U.S. market after its first few weeks on sale. Germany's Merz Group was accused of appropriating Allergan's trade secrets in launching the alternative botulinum toxin drug Xeomin, and now faces 10 months off the cosmeceuticals market.
Best known as a wrinkle-fighter, Botox is also marketed for a variety of therapeutic uses, including migraine and incontinence. Thanks to a U.S. District Court in California, it won't face Xeomin competition for cosmetics use for the rest of this year. Merz can continue to sell the drug for therapeutic uses, except in certain areas, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Wells Fargo analyst Larry Biegelsen told the WSJ that relaunching Xeomin as a cosmeceutical would be "a challenge," given "[t]he reputational damage and inconvenience to physicians [and] patients." Because of the injunction, Biegelsen upped his cosmetic-sales forecast for Botox this year to $416 million from $391 million; overall, the company is expecting up to $1.8 billion in worldwide sales of the drug.
- see the WSJ article