Johnson & Johnson is paying $1.1 billion for a key rival of Allergan Inc. in a big shot across the bow to the Irvine maker of medical cosmetic products.
The company is buying Santa Barbara-based Mentor Corp., a maker of breast implants and a competing product to Allergan’s wrinkle-remover Botox.
The deal stands to bring a big competitor to Allergan in medical cosmetics. Johnson & Johnson is one of the largest makers of drugs, medical devices and consumer products with yearly sales of $65 billion and a recent market value of $160 billion.
Up to now, Allergan largely has had the wrinkle remover market to itself.
Mentor is a potential rival with PurTox, a wrinkle remover in development that would compete with Allergan’s Botox.
Scottsdale-based Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. and France’s Ipsen SA are awaiting a Food and Drug Administration decision on wrinkle remover Reloxin.
Johnson & Johnson recently received approval for Evolence, an injectable collagen lower-face wrinkle treatment that competes with Allergan’s Juvederm.
Allergan has yearly sales of $4.4 billion and a recent market value of $11 billion.
About half of the company’s sales come from wrinkle removers, breast implants and a surgical device to treat obesity.
The market for medical cosmetics has slowed amid the down economy as consumers opt not to spend their own money on Botox and other procedures.
Allergan’s shares are off about 45% this year on concerns about slowing revenue from medical cosmetics.
Analysts say Johnson & Johnson is buying Mentor for the long term and is getting the company for a relatively low price. Mentor’s shares were off nearly 60% for the year before surging on the J & J; offer.
