Some on Wall Street have been concerned about whether Botox, the flagship drug of Irvine-based Allergan Inc., can hold up in a slowing economy.
But it seems the slowing economy actually is boosting its growth.
People who would have popped for more intensive plastic surgery are cutting back and opting for Botox to combat wrinkles instead, according to a recent Forbes article.
Botox sales grew 13% in the first quarter to $315.5 million, according to Allergan.
To buttress its point, Forbes mentioned a recent study commissioned by the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery that found growing demand for Botox, laser procedures and fillers.
Separately, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery did a survey that showed that demand for more expensive procedures such as facelifts fell off.
“We are seeing some people downsizing, doing a Botox kind of procedure instead of a facelift,” Darrell Rigel, society president and a New York surgeon, told the magazine.
Jeffrey Dover, the dermatological society’s vice president, told Forbes that the study results were in sync with an informal physician study he and a colleague presented to analysts for Deutsche Bank AG this spring. In the study, Dover said participants reported a 5% to 35% drop in expensive procedures, while less-expensive treatments rose.
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Hoag hospital: $5 million gift |
Americans spent more than $13 billion on cosmetic procedures last year. Of that amount, $8.3 billion was spent on surgical procedures and $4.7 billion on non-surgical procedures.
Rigel said the slowing economy has helped Botox in another way:
“I’m also seeing a new set of people who have been laid off and are trying to get back into the job market and want to look great,” he told Forbes.
Many of Rigel’s new clients, he said, worked at embattled investment banks such as Bear, Stearns & Co. and Morgan Stanley.
Bankers “used to be less than 1% of my practice. Now it’s 15% to 20%,” Rigel said.
Forbes pointed out that for job hunters who can’t afford downtime related to surgery, Botox and other less-invasive procedures “have the advantages of speed as well as price.”
The article concluded with a statement about how some consumers are staying the course even in view of economic forces.
“Certain people have to look good and want to look good. They have to go without something else,” Rigel told Forbes.
Less Access to Medical Care
Some 20% of Americans either delayed or weren’t able to get access to medical care when they needed it last year, compared to 14% in 2003, a study shows.
The Center for Studying Health System Change, a Washington, D.C.-based policy group, surveyed 18,000 people, with 43% of those polled responding.
The survey found that although uninsured Americans were more likely to report going without healthcare, those with insurance had a greater percentage hike in unmet medical needs.
“It’s not a pretty picture, especially for insured people, who are increasingly finding that the access to care once guaranteed by insurance is declining,” said Peter Cunningham, the study’s co-author, in a release.
The study also found that cost was the biggest obstacle to care for both insured and uninsured participants.
Orange County is one of 12 communities that the center, a nonprofit funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, looks at in its examination of healthcare.
Hoag Family Gives $5M
The George Hoag Family Foundation gave Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian $5 million late last month to establish the Grace E. Hoag chair position within the Newport Beach hospital’s cancer center.
Robert Dillman, a physician, is the newly designated Hoag chair and is serving as both executive medical and scientific director and endowed chair of Hoag Cancer Center. Dillman will focus on collaborative research and educational opportunities that support and expand the hospital’s cancer program.
Dillman has practiced at Hoag since 1989 and is also a clinical professor of medicine at the UCI Medical Center.
Bits and Pieces:
Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc., an Irvine drug maker, said its shareholders re-elected all six of its nominees to its board. They are: Chief Executive Rajesh Shrotriya, Mitchell Cybulski, Richard Fulmer, Stuart Krassner, Anthony Maida and Julius Vida Mahesh Mansukhani is the new president of Ossur Americas Inc., a Foothill Ranch-based unit of Ossur, an Icelandic maker of invasive orthopedic medical devices. Mansukhani succeeds Eythor Bender, who will move to a consulting role. Mansukhani was most recently with AlixPartners LLP, a consulting firm.
