Artes Medical: Long-lasting wrinkle correction

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Artes Medical is a medical technology company developing a new category of aesthetic injectable products for the dermatology and plastic surgery markets.  Artes Medical’s initial product is ArteFill, a “non-resorbable” (not absorbed into the body), injectable implant for the correction of facial wrinkles and other aesthetic uses. 

ArteFill consists of a proprietary combination of microspheres made of Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), widely used in implantable medical devices, and highly purified bovine collagen.  Artes Medical’s product is unique in terms of duration of effect.  ArteFill treatments yield a near-permanent result, as has been demonstrated by a 5-year clinical trial, recently concluded.  In contrast, competitive offerings, including the industry-leading Restylane (Medicis), last as little as 6 months and thus require continual treatments.  This, in turn, results in demonstrated fall-off from: 1) injection fatigue, where patients become tired of repeated injection treatments, and 2) credit card fatigue, where patients become tired of repeated payments resulting from repeated treatments.

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), 10.2 million cosmetic/aesthetic procedures were performed in the United States in 2005.  Minimally-invasive procedures, such as injectable aesthetic product treatments, i.e., collagen and Botox injections, accounted for the bulk of those procedures. The ASPS estimates sales of injectable products of more than $2.2 billion dollars in the United States in 2005. Cowen & Co. estimates that sales of products by manufacturers within this market approached $600 million in 2006.  Further, Cowen & Co. estimates that expenditures on procedures using temporary dermal fillers could reach $800 million worldwide in 2007, and run as high as $1.5 billion in the United States over the next five to 10 years.  This translates into a compound annual growth rate of between a 20-25% through 2011). 

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