According to Allergan’s CEO, Brent Saunders, the best pharmaceutical market right now is the medical aesthetics market. This may not be surprising, since Allergan is one of the leading companies in the field of medical aesthetics. But the statement is not coming out of the blue. The market is not only global and fast growing, many of the aesthetic products and services are cash-pay only. These cash based business models allow pharmaceutical companies to avoid reimbursements from third-party payers and their pricing pressure. In the last years, the Dublin drug maker Allergan continually observed market developments and finally acted with the appropriate foresight. In 2015, Allergan completed the divestiture of its global generic unit for $40.5 billion to the Israeli drug maker Teva. This business strategy allowed Allergan to expand its portfolio to products of the medical aesthetic market, such as the $ 2.1 billion acquisition of the key component Kybella off Kythera, a fat-chin reducing treatment, or the most recent purchase of Zeltiq, the sales leader in body contouring, for $ 2.47 billion. According to the pharma analyst Jason Gerry, the medical aesthetic market is especially growing for toxins such as Botox and fillers. That is in line with Allergan’s medical aesthetic products: Botox noted a growth of 13% over the year-ago period as well as 18% for the Juvederm line fillers. Only Kybella did not pay off yet, pulling in only one third of the haul, even though sales are still increasing. Whether the market of medical aesthetics will continue to show promise is up to speculations.
