The topical Botox wars are heating up! What, you didn’t know you could quit getting injections of Botox and just lather a Botox cream on your wrinkles?! Well, you can’t…at least not yet. Allergan, the maker of BOTOX® Cosmetic, the injectable drug that can smooth away wrinkles like the crow’s feet around the eyes or the “11’s” in between the eyebrows, has just purchased Anterios for $90 million.
Anterios is a company that recently finished phase II trials on a topical form of Botox that can relax muscles in the face that cause wrinkles, similar to the injectable version of Botox. Phase II trials determine whether a new drug works or not. If the answer is yes, then you proceed to phase III trials which compare the new drug to the “gold standard,” which in this case is comparing topical Botox to the standard injectable Botox.
According to a press release, “Allergan acquired Anterios for an upfront payment of $90 million and potential development and commercialization milestone payments related to NDS™, Anterios’ proprietary platform delivery technology that enables local, targeted delivery of neurotoxins through the skin without the need for injections.” Since we’re only at Phase II, we have a while before it’s available to the average consumer.
In the race to be the first to market, Revance is another company working on a topical version of Botox that wouldn’t require injections with a needle. Towards the end of 2014, things weren’t looking so good for Revance in their Phase II trials. According to this report, “Revance has concluded that “we still have some work to do to optimize the transfer of manufacturing to our commercial facility and increase the probability of success for our upcoming Phase III pivotal program,” CEO Dan Browne said in a statement.”
But according to The Street, a year can make all the difference! “Revance’s latest phase II results for its wrinkle-fighting treatment topped both placebo and treatments with Botox, Allergan’s marquee product.”
Based on these reports, Allergan was feeling the heat of Revance’s encouraging Phase II results so they went out and bought a competitor! Stay tuned for more.
